Final: St. John’s 9, Hofstra 7
WP: Oliver McCarthy
S: Chuck SanzioDavid Glancy: 3-for-3 , 3 HRs, 2 BBs, 4 RBIs pic.twitter.com/HX9zvr4aGw
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 22, 2022
David Glancy came to the plate five times for St. John’s. Twice they put him on first base, and the other three times he reminded them why they should’ve done so.
The Johnnies LF crushed home runs in all three of his official at bats in St. John’s 9-7 victory over Hofstra on Tuesday afternoon. He doubled his season’s total on the day.
It was a wild game that features plenty of back-and-forth scoring. Hofstra showed they are a team to be taken seriously, as they overcame an early 3-0 deficit but also watched a 7-5 lead evaporate, before nearly coming back in the 9th inning but stranded the bases loaded with St. John’s closer Chuck Sanzio on the hill.
The Johnnies got out to a quick 1-0 lead on Glancy’s first shot of the day – a bomb to left center field of Hofstra’s RHP Michael O’Hanlon. In the third inning, he came up again and once again he hit a solo HR – this time to straightaway left field. The Johnnies added one in the third on an RBI single to left by the reigning Big East Player of the Week, Kevin Michaels to score Tate Ballestero.
In the fourth inning, Hofstra came to life. Brian Morrell got things going with an opposite field double off the wall in right field against his former teammates. He came around to score on Anthony D’Onofrio‘s RBI single to left which was the second of his four hits.
In the home half of the fifth, St. John’s extended the lead on a passed ball that scored Ballestero to make it a 4-1 ballgame. Credit to Hofstra’s LHP Aljo Sujak who held down the fort with 3 strong innings of relief to let his offense get back in the game.
The Pride broke through in the sixth inning. They got huge two-run doubles by Steve Harrington and Ryan Morash to turn the 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead.
They were riding the momentum, and threatened to break it open in the 7th inning with runners on the corners with no outs, but Tim Cunningham induced a 6-4-3 DP off Morrell’s bat to score a run but mitigate the damage.
Glancy struck again in the home half of the seventh on an opposite field solo shot to cut the lead to 7-6. He became the first St. John’s player to hit three HRs in a game since Mike Antico in 2019.
In the eighth inning, D’Onofrio created a run. He led off the inning with a well-struck double down the left field line for his fourth hit of the day. He moved to third on a ground out to short and scored on a routine grounder to second with the drawn-in infield.
At that moment, it appeared Hofstra was in control but the Johnnies would not go down without a fight. They took advantage of some command issues of the Hofstra relievers, as six batters drew walks and the rally essentially started with 1-out and one runner on. When all was said and done, the Johnnies led 9-7 after eight innings of play.
In the top of the 9th, things got interesting. First, Santino Rosso was called out on a borderline 3-2 pitch. After some arguing, head coach Frank Catalanotto was tossed from the game, but it certainly woke up the dugout.
The next two batters, Sean Flaherty and Brian Morrell drew walks to bring up Kevin Bruggeman who laced a single to left to load the bases with one out.
Anthony D’Onofrio came to the plate looking for his 5th hit. On a 3-2 count, Sanzio pulled the string with a changeup. It appeared up out of the zone, but it fooled D’Onofrio who swung through it for the second out. Next up was 3B Luke Napolitano who sent a lazy fly to right to end the ballgame, 9-7.
With the victory, St. John’s improves to 6-14 on the season – but more importantly, have now won four in a row. The Pride drop to 8-7 on the season.
