Red Storm wrecks the Pirates

With a strong start from Kyle Hansen and some consistent bats, St. John’s knocked off East Carolina in the opening game of the Chapel Hill Regional 11-3.

Hansen, a six-foot-eight right handed pitcher, went 7.1 IP and gave up three runs on eight hits while striking out eight Pirates – more than enough to pick up the win.

“It sets us up pretty good,” Red Storm head coach Ed Blankmeyer said. “He gave us length in the game and Steve (Rivera) came in and did a nice job to finish it up. When you don’t have to go to your pen early in a tournament, it helps you.”

In a rare occurrence, the umpires called four balks in the game and two on Hansen in the third inning. But Hansen settled down on his way to his fifth win of the season.

“My freshman year I think I led the conference in balks,” Hansen said. “So I’ve kind of gotten used to it. I just need to slow myself down. Position players were telling me to calm down, take it one pitch at a time. It helped and certainly helped me through the early innings.”

St. John’s struck first in the top of the second inning as Jeremy Baltz doubled to left center. Designated hitter scored Baltz on a groundball two batters later.

In the third, the Red Storm led off with another first pitch double to left center. This one came from Bret Dennis and it was nearly caught by a diving Bryan Bass. That miss proved vital as Dennis scored, after moving to third on a sacrifice bunt, on a groundball from Jimmy Brennan.

St. John’s chased the Pirate starter Jeff Hoffman from the mound in the top of the fifth and things only got uglier for ECU from there. With runners on second and third, relief pitcher Andy Smithmyer gave up a bloop single to right field that scored Dennis.

Frank Schwindel singled to left in the next at bat and scored Kyle Richardson. Matt Wessinger also scored on the play as the left fielder airmailed his throw to third.

The Pirates put up a pair of runs in the eighth as Corey Thompson singled home two runners to cut the lead to five. But any hope the Pirates had of making a ninth inning comeback continually diminished as the top half of the inning dragged along.

St. John’s put up three more runs in the last frame to take the final 11-3 advantage.

Though the Pirates struggled to find offense in game one, coach Billy Godwin and his team were not discouraged.

“There’s no doubt we can bounce back,” Godwin said. “There’s no question in my mind. We just need to take it one pitch at a time, one out at time and not look at the big picture because we’re behind the eight ball. It’s not a secret. We just have to focus on playing the game.”