David Glancy absolutely crushed a go-ahead 2-R HR to give St. John’s a 3-1 lead in the fifth pic.twitter.com/pPDDnOayo9
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 28, 2021
Well that’s about as good as St. John’s could’ve hoped to begin the 2021 season.
The Johnnies swept UMASS-Lowell this weekend by the scores of 2-1, 11-3 and 3-1. On Sunday, it was a far cry from Saturday’s slug fest, but they did use the power of redshirt freshman David Glancy to another victory. The powerful New Jersey-native stepped up with the game tied 1-1 in the fifth and absolutely destroyed one to left field to give the Red Storm a 3-1 lead and fire up his teammates. He looks to be a force in the BIG EAST for the next four years – having hit an impressive .423 during the abbreviated 2020 season with an .885 SLG.
The weather was poor for this Sunday morning game. The start time was pushed up to 10am to attempt to beat the precipitation, which paid off. The pace of the game was sluggish, though, including several reviewed plays that slowed things down.
The Johnnies got off to a 1-0 lead in the home half of the first inning when leadoff man Jake Lazzaro drew a 7-pitch watch and came all the way around to score on an RBI double to left center field by Justin Folz.
The lead did not last long, though, as Umass-Lowell tied it up in the second inning. Johnnies RHP Brian Hendry avoided further damage after allowing back-to-back singles to start off the inning. A 6-6-3 DP turned by Lazzaro at shortstop slow down the rally but tied up the game. He ended the inning with a strikeout on a high fastball of the next batter.
In the bottom of the third, the Johnnies threatened the score as Paul Orbon and Jake Lazzaro hit singles to start the inning with Orbon advancing to third on the hit. An infield pop up off the bat of Carson Bartels, a caught stealing of Lazzaro and a ground out off the bat of Glancy ended the inning.
Hendry worked around a single by Cam Climo in the fourth inning to throw up another zero.
In the top of the fifth, Hendry was taken out with two outs after he allowed a leadoff single, was sacrificed to second and he recorded a strikeout. The reliever, Geoff Mosseau, walked a batter but induced a fly out to left to end the inning.
Glancy’s moon shot came in the fifth inning, which really turned the momentum back in favor of the Johnnies, after it appeared their offense was dormant. The home run scored Bartels, who hit a one-out triple to right center field.
The situation got dicey in the sixth inning when Mosseau’s control eluded him a bit. After retiring the first two batters, he walked three in the inning, only to strike out the next batter to escape unscathed.
Joe Joe Rodriguez came on relief of Mosseau, and he threw a scoreless inning thanks to an 8-3 double play executed by Orbon in center. He struck out two batters in the eighth inning to get the Johnnies three outs away.
He gave way to close Ethan Routzahn who worked around a 1 out walk to strike out the final two batters to slam the door on the victory and complete the sweep.
Hendry did not factor in the decision – failing to go five innings. He went 4.2 innings, struck out five, walked two and yielded 4 hits. Geoff Mosseau was the pitcher of record for the Johnnies and Routzahn recorded his second save of the season.
They will be back in action on Friday, as they host Sacred Heart in a double header beginning at noon.
