St. John’s
Ed Blankmeyer Leaves St. John’s To Become New Manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones
In a surprise move, legendary St. John’s Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer has stepped down to join the New York Mets organization as manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones and extended Spring Training coordinator. Blankmeyer is the winningest coach in Red Storm history as well as BIG EAST history. He has compiled a record of 829-500-4 over his 24 seasons. Under his guidance, the Red Storm have won five BIG EAST tournament championships and 23 winning seasons. Additionally, he has appeared in one Super Regional in 2012. He has been named BIG EAST Coach of the Year a staggering eight times and notched 40-win seasons on 9 occasions. Two former Red Storm players were drafted in the first round during Blankmeyer’s tenure; Craig Hansen in 2005 and Joe Panik in 2011. A total of 91 have moved on to ...
Dylan Johnson: What Christmas Means to Me
(Editor’s Note: Dylan Johnson is a 2021 graduate of Newfield HS. He recently committed to St. John’s University. He is expected to anchor the Wolverines rotation once again this season. He really came into his own in 2019 after Newfield lost their ace in the preseason which propelled him into the role of staff ace. He handled the challenge and he will be counted on to lead the charge in 2020.) The importance of Christmas to me is more than just presents and food. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. That is the reason of the season and I wouldn’t be where I am today without my faith. A tradition my family does is every Christmas Eve we go to my aunt’s house on my dad’s side of the family and celebrate. On Christmas day first thing we do is wake up and go t...
Brian Morrell Transfers to St. John’s University
One of the most decorated players in Long Island baseball history has a new home. Brian Morrell, two-time winner of the Carl Yastrzemski Award and 2017 MLB Draft pick, has transferred to St. John’s University from the University of Notre Dame. It was just two years ago that Morrell was the most talked about player in our region, he completed an historic 5-year high school career by leading Shoreham-Wading River to the Long Island Championship against Wantagh. For his career, he won 23 games with a 1.15 ERA an 295 strikeouts over 213 IP. At the plate, he batted .409 with 26 home runs and 124 RBI. His senior season was legendary. He compiled a record of 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA and 93 strikeouts over 67.1 IP. He fired three no-hitters, (six for his career) and was also just as impressive a...
Jesse Berardi Selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 10th Round
It appeared like Day 2 of the 2017 MLB Draft would pass without a Long Islander having their name called, but Jesse Berardi (Commack ’14, St. John’s) was selected with one of the final picks in the 10th round by the Cleveland Indians. He was previously drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2014 draft. It was very much a surprise that he lasted as long as he did, considering there was close to 20 scouts at the final few games of the season, in which he batted .356 with a .456 OBP and .462 SLG. He was named first-team All-Big East. Berardi is considered one of the best defensive shortstops to ever come through Long Island. He won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 2014 following a dynamic season. He opted to attend St. John’s, where he improved his offensive game considera...
Late Rally Pushes Seton Hall Past St. John’s
Seton Hall used a late game hit barrage to hand 11th-ranked St. John’s its seventh loss of the year on Saturday. Seton Hall’s Cullen Dana took a shutout into the eighth as he rolled through the Red Storm lineup. What originally looked like a pitcher’s duel in the early innings ended up turning into a convincing 7-0 win for the Pirates. “You gotta give that kid credit where credit’s due, we just didn’t have a good approach,” St. John’s Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer said. “We let him settle in and he kind of got his breaking ball in there enough to keep us off balance.” St. John’s starter Jeff Belge was electric as well through the first five frames. He retired 10 straight Seton Hall batters after opening the game with a walk, and allowed just one hit while striking out six. But Dana was down for...
Power Rankings Volume 2
The unexpected arctic temperatures put a huge damper on baseball this week on Long Island. A few of the teams were able to escape down south to get their games in, but the rest were left to track the weather fronts all weekend. In the case of Farmingdale and St. Joseph’s, the weather delayed there season until the second week of March. With that being said, here is my best attempt to rank the teams in our coverage area. (Note: These rankings are based off a team’s current momentum and performance against their competition, not weighted to Div-I, Div-II, etc) St. John’s (Record: 10-1, Stock UP) It’s hard to imagine a team getting off to a better start than them. This week they defeated the reigning national champions in Coastal Carolina. They finally lost today, but ...
St. John’s Continues Red-Hot Start
by Troy Mauriello If the St. John’s Red Storm weren’t on the national radar after a 7-0 start to their season, they certainly are now. The No. 16 ranked Johnnies came from behind yesterday to knock off No. 7 North Carolina on the road, giving them their best start since 1981, the days of John Franco and Frank Viola. Yesterday’s victory was anything but easy for St. John’s. After outscoring their opponents 63-16 through their first seven wins this season, the Red Storm actually trailed 4-2 heading into the seventh inning in Chapel Hill. It appeared as though the perfect start and upset bid were falling apart before the Johnnies got a jolt of offense thanks to the long ball. In that seventh, after John Valente walked to lead off the inning, Jesse Berardi smashed a two-run, game-tying home ru...
St. John’s Beats No. 9 Coastal Carolina in Extras
It took ten innings but St. John’s topped last season’s NCAA champions, No.9 ranked Coastal Carolina. Tied at four after nine, it was Robbie Knightes who, with one out in top of the tenth, hit an RBI double off the wall in left. The Johnnies added two more later in the frame when Coastal walked, and hit a batter with the bases loaded. Turner French earned his first win of the year when he closed out the final 2 1/3 innings while giving up only one hit. A team-high four runs were driven in on two hits by junior Anthony Brocato, and John Valente tied a career-high with three hits while driving in one run. Michael Donadio, Jamie Galazin, and Jesse Berardi each had two-hit days as well. This was St. John’s first win over a top-10 opponent since beating then No. 9 Florida Stat...
St. John’s Leaning on an Experienced Lineup
(Photo Credit: St. John’s Athletics) by Brianna Pace Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer, now in his 22nd year, has his head held high walking into the 2017 season. With youth in the pitching staff and experience out on the field, St. John’s is ready to have a comeback year. The level of experience is much higher this year as opposed to last year. Blankmeyer highlights the amount of experience the team has this year coming from the multitude of returning position players. Compared to last season, he says that he values the experience this season’s team has the most. Blankmeyer likes his team’s chances this season, but he also says the conference is going to be good. He said that the lower level teams are getting better but he has confidence in his team. He said that he’s expecting a good season...
