sports
102 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 3, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
St. John’s powers their way to
big wins over Iona and Xavier
Fresh off the program’s ninth-straight
Big East series win and the victor in 14
of its last 15 games, the St. John’s baseball
team returned to action on Tuesday
night at Jack Kaiser Stadium, welcoming
Iona for a nighttime matchup.
Th e Red Storm walloped Iona 9-1,
improving to 29-11 on the year and continuing
to gather momentum in their
quest for a national championship. Th ird
baseman and leadoff hitter John Valente
scored three of the Red Storm’s runs,
while Jamie Galazin drove in three runs.
Th e Red Storm’s series victory over
Xavier captured more than a few national
headlines, as the Johnnies’ April 28 eff ort
proved to be one for the record books.
Trailing 5-0 aft er two and 6-3 aft er
three, the Red Storm proceeded to
score 28 unanswered runs over the next
four innings en route to a 34-7 victory.
Th e outburst broke the program’s single
game scoring record of 31 set against
New Orleans in 2010 and was the third
30-plus run scoring output in St. John’s
history; on April 28, 1956, St. John’s
downed Brooklyn by a score of 30-7.
Th ree players fi nished with fi ve or
more RBIs, as Galazin left the yard twice
and knocked in six runs, while Valente
and Jordan Gillerman brought home fi ve
apiece. Josh Shaw recorded hits in each
of his fi rst fi ve at-bats, becoming the fi rst
St. John’s player since Frank Schwindel
in 2013 to notch fi ve hits in a single
game.
Valente, a fi nalist for the prestigious
Senior CLASS Award, continued to
swing a hot bat in Cincinnati. On the
year, the New Rochelle native leads the
Big East and ranks 24th nationally with
a .390 batting average. Dating back to
last season, the graduate student owns
the longest reached base streak in the
nation, reaching safely in 54-consecutive
outings.
With two home runs this past weekend,
Valente bumped his season-long
total in that category to fi ve. Entering
2018, Valente had only recorded three
home runs in the fi rst three years of his
St. John’s tenure.
With the midway point of the conference
season now in the rearview mirror,
the Red Storm has a comfortable hold
on fi rst place in the Big East standings.
Th e Seaton Pirates are the next Big East
opponent to await the Johnnies, as the
two teams are scheduled for a three-game
set on May 11-12.
Photo via Twitter/@stjohnsredstorm
John Valente