St. John's Tops East Carolina 2-0 in Charlottesville Regional

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CHARLOTTESVILLE – St. John’s defeated East Carolina 2-0 in the second game of the opening day of the Charlottesville Regional. St. John’s will meet Virginia in the 1-0 game at 6 p.m. on Saturday. East Carolina will play Navy in an elimination game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

A run in the each of the third and fourth innings was all the Red Storm needed, as Sean Hagan and Matt Carasiti combined for the shutout. The teams combined for 19 hits – all singles. Both teams left 12 runners on base.

Hagan went 7.1 innings, scattering nine hits and striking out six to pick up the win. He improved to 7-2 this season. Carasiti pitched the final 1.2 innings, earning his eighth save of the season. East Carolina starter Mike Wright (6-4) took the loss, allowing two runs on seven hits over eight innings.

Jimmy Brennan led the Red Storm (36-20) offensively, going 3-for-5 and driving in one of the two St. John’s runs. Ben Fultz and Chase McDonald had two hits each to lead the Pirates (39-20).

St. John’s took the lead in the top of the third. Paul Karmas drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. He came around to score the game’s first run on Brennan’s RBI single up the middle.

The Red Storm added a run in the top of the fourth. The bases were loaded with no outs and Jeremy Baltz scored on Kevin Grove’s sacrifice fly.

East Carolina tried to rally late. In the bottom of the eighth, the Pirates had runners on second and third with one out, but Carasiti came in and got a strikeout and a flyout to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the ninth, ECU had runners on second and third with two outs, but a groundout ended the threat and the game.