{"id":290163,"date":"2026-05-30T15:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/290163\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T15:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T15:00:18","slug":"the-road-to-omaha-begins-st-johns-baseball-optimistic-going-into-the-tallahassee-regionals-the-torch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/290163\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road to Omaha Begins: St. John\u2019s Baseball \u2018Optimistic\u2019 Going into the Tallahassee Regionals \u2013 The Torch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Torch Photo \/ Sebastian Zelaya<\/p>\n

Fresh off the heels of a conference-leading 11th Big East Tournament Championship, the St. John\u2019s Red Storm held an open practice at Jack Kaiser Stadium with one goal in mind: To stay hot at the right time and win with house money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Throughout the practice, the Johnnies were focused , showing how they have blossomed into the team they are now. They are coming off a five-game winning streak, highlighted by a perfect 3-0 showing at the Big East Tournament in Mason, Ohio.<\/p>\n

The Johnnies now have their eyes set on the regionals, with an important first matchup on Friday vs. the 10th-seeded Florida State Seminoles in their own backyard in Tallahassee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For other teams, being in the regionals with a ranked team can really put pressure on the squad. Yet for this group led by head coach Mike Hampton<\/a>, it truly feels like the sky is the limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally just nothing to lose. I mean, we had an amazing Big East Tournament, All-Big East First Team selection Adam Argresti<\/a> said.\u201cWe\u2019re going into Tallahassee with just really nothing to lose. Just have some fun out there and play some baseball.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a group, we don\u2019t get intimidated by stuff like that,\u201d\u00a0 outfielder Jon LeGrande<\/a> said, \u201cWe just stick to ourselves, and just worry about our brand of baseball, honestly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Liam O\u2019Leary<\/a>, who also received All-Big East First Team honors, emphasized that when facing teams that are ranked like the Seminoles, everyone is going to have a role in this push for Omaha.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to just have to execute really well all weekend long,\u201d said O\u2019Leary.\u201cIt\u2019s going to be all hands on deck. We\u2019re going to need everyone, and just we\u2019re all super excited to get down there and go after it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This version of the Red Storm, which started the season at 1-10, battled the toughest challenges and has overcome adversity, allowing it to stand out from St. John\u2019s teams of the past few years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, similar to the 2024 team that won it as well, I think our team camaraderie is just amazing,\u201d Agresti \u201cOff the field, we\u2019re really a family, so when we\u2019re on the field, we can just play even better with that mentality.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It seems that the mindset they\u2019ve picked up ever since February was that it was the next man up, from the first pitch till the final out for these Johnnies. It shows them that not only will they be on the road facing difficult competition, but they are going to fight tooth and nail for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to pick us up on any given day, which we\u2019ve had really good games from Adam Agresti, Shaun McMillan, Jader Raifestanger, big hits from Ayden Fry and Dylan FitzSimmons, and you go through the list, and there\u2019s not just one guy that you can say. Hey, if he doesn\u2019t do well, we\u2019re not going to have a good game,\u201d\u00a0 Coach Mike Hampton said about his players stepping up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, one thing is clear in the whole team\u2019s mind: Play their style of baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a hard-nosed team. That\u2019s what we preach, said Hampton. \u201cWe play the game and play it hard until that last out is made. You know, I just want them to have fun and enjoy the experience. This is what it\u2019s all about in the postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Storm have a chance to rewrite the wrongs of the 2024 season by winning a tournament game, which starts Friday, May 29, vs the No. 10 Florida State Seminoles at 3 p.m. on ACC Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Torch Photo \/ Sebastian Zelaya Fresh off the heels of a conference-leading 11th Big East Tournament Championship, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-290163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}