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Red Storm Nine Shows Promise for Next Year
BY BERNIE BEGLANE
Wait until next year!
The cry of the Brooklyn Dodgers for many seasons when they played at Ebbets Field.
And it was echoed by Ed Blankmeyer a few days after completing his 12th season as coach of St. John’s University.
And it was a good one. The final record was 41-19,
In addition, it also marked the third time that the Red Storm achieved 40 or more victories.
So why was the coach, a standout player in his days at Seton Hall when the Pirates were staunch rivals of the Vincentian Fathers’ school in Jamaica in the now-defunct Metropolitan Collegiate Baseball Conference, pointing to next year.
Failure to gain the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, NE.
“That’s the goal every season,” said Blankmeyer. “We had a solid regional and were right there.
“Based on this season and the players we have returning, I feel confident that we will be in the thick of it.”
St. John’s saw its season come to an end with one play at the plate and a fourth straight one-run game, falling to top-seeded and 11th-ranked Costal Carolina, 6-5, in NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional play. Dock Doyle hit a sacrifice fly to left field, and David Anderson beat Brian Kemp’s throw to the plate to score the game-winning run.
For St. John’s, it was their 30th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, the eighth most in collegiate baseball, and was a win away from making a second regional championship in three years.
Coastal Carolina improved to 50-12 overall and moved on to face No. 2 seed Clemson.
Junior outfielder Chris Anninos continued his career day for St. John’s, blasting his third home run. His three-run shot in the fifth inning gave him seven RBI and 14 total bases in three NCAA Regional games. Seniors Sam DeLuca and Anthony Smith also drove in runs, while Jeff Grantham reached base three times and scored a run.
Anninos poked his third homer of the day and drove in three runs as part of a four-run fifth that gave the Red Storm a 5-3 lead. Chris Joachim singled and stole second. Grantham walked and DeLuca ripped an RBI single to get the scoring started. After a Gil Zayas popout, Anninos worked his way back from a 0-2 count and hit a payoff pitch from Andy DeLaGarza well over the left center field wall.
The lead was short-lived as the Chanticleers tallied two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 5-5. A throwing error by the pitcher, George Brown, allowed Coastal’s first run of the inning, and a sacrifice fly by Doyle.
Coastal Carolina scored the clincher in the bottom of the eighth on Doyle’s sacrifice fly.
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Scott Barnes |
Anninos and sophomore starting pitcher Scott Barnes were named to the 2007 all-regional team. Anninos hit .455 (5-for-11) with three home runs and seven RBI in three tournament games, while Barnes pitched 7.2 innings and allowed one run on six hits in a no-decision in the Red Storm’s opener against Clemson.
The Tigers won the regional and advanced to Super Regional play with a 15-3 victory over Coastal Carolina. Clemson received five of the 10 all-tournament selections with first baseman Andy D’Alession being named the MVP.
In Anninos’ banner day, he homered three times as St. John’s split a pair of games against Virginia Commonwealth University and Coastal Carolina. His second of two homers in the team’s first game against VCU was a walk-off shot as the Red Storm won, 5-4.
In the late game against CCU, he hit a long three-run homer in the fifth inning that gave St. John’s a 5-3 lead in an eventual 6-5 loss.
In six post-season games, including the Big East championship, Anninos hit .476 (10-for-21) with team highs of three homers, 10 RBI, five runs scored and 19 total bases.
Anthony Smith, a senior outfielder for the Red Storm, was selected in the 21st round of Major League Baseball’s draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Smith, the 663rd overall pick, batted .313, hit 11 home runs and drove in 48 runs this season.
His three-year career of a .320 average and 22 homers were sixth best in the history of the Vincentian Fathers’ school in Jamaica.
A transfer from George Washington University, Smith made himself known in the Big East almost immediately by being selected to the all-conference first team as a junior.
This to go with earning All America honors as a freshman at the Washington, D.C., school.
Overall, Anthony helped Blankmeyer to two Big East regular-season titles.
Teammate Brian Kemp, a freshman outfielder, was no slouch either.
He was picked on the all-Big East third squad after posting a .348 batting average and registering team highs of 53 runs scored and 25 stolen bases.
The 53 runs, along with his 80 hits, were freshman records. And in conference contests his 46 hits were No. 1.
Then there was an eight-game hitting streak that closed out the regular season and enabled St. John’s to share the title heading into the playoffs.
So it seemed most appropriate for Blankmeyer to say: “Wait until next year!”
Red Storm Golf Team Also Will Wait Until Next Year
Frank Darby, veteran golf coach of St. John’s, was echoing the same song as Blankmeyer.
And like the baseball coach, with good reason.
The Red Storm, competing in the NCAA East regionals at the Golf Club of Georgia (Georgia Tech was the host) in Atlanta, finished in 21st place.
Georgia proved to be a rude host and won it all with a five-man three-round 855.
The Red Storm posted a 923, second only among schools from the East to Penn State’s 901 which gave the Nittany Lions the 16th spot.
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Keegan Bradley |
Keegan Bradley, a junior and the nephew of Pat Bradley, one of the early standouts on the Ladies Professional Golfers Tour, and George Zolotas, also a junior, were the key performers for Darby’s squad.
Bradley closed out the 54-hole regionals with a 74 for a total of 222 to lead SJU.
As a result, the co-captains were named to the PING Division I Mid-Atlantic All-Region team, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced. The PING selections consisted of the top 15 individuals in their respective region and any player ranked in the top 75 nationals.
“Keegan and George have worked incredibly hard on their game and this is a well-deserved honor,” said Frank Darby, originally from St. Teresa’s parish, Woodside. “These two are following in the rich tradition of all other outstanding golfers that have come through this program.”
This marks the first time either golfer has been honored by the GCAA and automatically makes both athletes eligible for PING All-America honors.
The duo led the squad to unprecedented success as the Red Storm advanced to the 2007 NCAA regionals for the first time since 2001. St. John’s opened its spring schedule by hosting the Treasure Coast Classic in Fort Pierce, Fla., at the Indian Hills Golf Club where Bradley and Zolotas were unstoppable.
Zolotas’s first-round score of 61 set a course record, and is the lowest round to date in the nation, while Bradley took first place overall after carding a 21-under par 192 (63-65-64).
Behind their performances, the Red Storm took home its first championship title of the season, finishing 40-under par.
As it turned out, the Treasure Coast Classic would be just the beginning of good things to come. The Red Storm captured two more championships: the Lacrosse Homes intercollegiate and the Princeton Invitational. The last time St. John’s accomplished the feat of earning three team championships in a season was also in 2001.
St. John’s finished in the top five in all six of its spring events. Overall for the year, St. John’s placed in the top five in 10 out of 12 tournaments with Bradley earning four individual championships. He was 10th or better in as many events, taking the title at the Tillinghast, the UTSA Invitational, the Treasure Coast Classic and the Lacrosse Homes Intercollegiate.
Zolotas recorded a career-high six finishes in 10th place or better.
Each of St. John’s starting five made an appearance in the top 10. Rookie Mike Ballo Jr., had three, sophomore Kevin Velardo had two and freshman Dan Mollicone had one. The team shot 61 sub-par rounds with Bradley and Zolotas leading the way at 21 and 15 rounds, respectively.
“This is the best team I have ever had,” said Darby. “They are very talented kids and the team chemistry is unbelievable.
“And with everyone returning, it’s little wonder that I join Coach Blankmeyer in saying ‘Wait until next year!’”
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