St. John’s earned a dramatic 2-0 victory Friday evening over East Carolina in Charlottesville Region opening-round play of the 2011 NCAA Baseball Tournament.
St. John’s closer Matt Carasiti pitched out of a ninth-inning jam, getting East Carolina’s Trent Whitehead to ground out to shortstop to end the game with runners at second and third.
The Red Storm scored single runs in the third and fourth innings. In the third inning Paul Karmas walked, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Jimmy Brennan, who had three hits on the day. In the fourth inning St. John’s scored on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Grove.
Starting pitcher Sean Hagan went 7.1 shutout innings to get the victory for the Red Storm, scattering nine hits. Carasiti got the final five out.
St. John’s faces Virginia (50-9) Saturday at 6 p.m. ET (live stream on NCAA.com). The Cavaliers are the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament.