Red Storm beats Liberty in final game of baseball series

Liberty was six outs from a three-game sweep of visiting St. John’s when the Red Storm rallied from a 5-2 deficit with a four-run eighth inning and went on to salvage the third game of the series with a 7-6 victory in 11 innings.

“They are ranked 30th in the country,” Flames coach Jim Toman said. “They are a good squad and have a lot good arms. We are happy to win two out of three, but when you win those first two you really want to win that last one.”

The big blow in the eighth by St. John’s was a three-run homer down the left field line by Paul Karmas. No initial call was made by any umpire as to whether the ball was foul or fair, and several Liberty players began to argue the ball was foul as Karmas circled the bases. Only after the umpires gathered to discuss the play was an indication given and Karmas officially awarded the home run that put the Red Storm up 6-5.

“I didn’t know if it was a home run or not because no one called anything,” Toman said. “It might have been a home run and that would have been fine if someone would just call it when it happens and not five minutes later.”

Liberty (11-2) added a run in the bottom of the eighth on P.J. Jimenez’s double into the gap that scored Kenneth Negron to even the game at 6-6 and it wasn’t until the 11th inning that St. John’s (8-5) finally broke through for a run on an RBI-single by Matt Wessinger. Stephen Rivera gave up a one-out single but induced a game-ending double-play to secure the victory. Rivera (2-1) worked three scoreless innings to earn the victory.

The Flames got seven strong innings from junior starting pitcher, Steven Evans (Amherst). He walked four batters, gave up three hits, struck out four and after giving up two runs in the third inning — when he walked the lead-off batter and surrendered an RBI bunt single by Greg Hopkins and a two-out, RBI-single by Karmas — he settled down and allowed just two more base runners over the next four innings.

“It wasn’t a bad weekend,” Evans said. “We should have won all three games, but we’ll take it. (After giving up the two runs) I got a little ticked off. I didn’t have my best stuff today for sure. I wasn’t getting my breaking pitches over so I just relied on my fastball the rest of the game.”

Liberty tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning on Justin Richardson’s two-out, two-run, pinch-hit single that scored Tyler Bream and Nathan Thompson. The Flames took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Thompson led off with a single, went from first to third on Doug Bream’s single and scored when Casey Brown ground into double play.

Liberty added two more runs in the seventh on a two-out RBI double by Tyler Bream and a two-out, pinch-hit, RBI-single by Austin Taylor.

Timmy Dudley (Appomattox) relieved Evans to start the eighth and gave up a double and two singles to the three batters he faced. Dane Beakler relieved Dudley and Karmas sent the second pitch he throw over the fence in leftfield. Beakler (0-1) took the loss. He worked four innings allowed three hits and two runs.

“Our bullpen hasn’t been very good the last few days,” Toman said. “We haven’t found a setup guy or our closer. We battled back though. We made a game of it we just couldn’t get it done in the middle relief there.”

Curran Redal and Tyler Bream went 3-for-6. Bream also scored two runs and had an RBI. Thompson went 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored. Jimenez and Trey Wimmer both had two hits.

St. John’s Kyle Hansen, a 6-foot-7 freshman flame-thrower, got his first career start for the Red Storm. Hansen is the younger brother of former St John’s star and current Pittsburgh Pirate, Craig Hansen, who drafted in the first of the Major League Baseball draft by the Boston Red Sox in 2005.

Hansen went five innings, allowed three hits and two walks and struck out five Flames. He also left quite an impression on home plate umpire Dwight Godwin. The first pitch Hansen threw appeared to cross up his catcher and Hansen’s fastball struck Godwin square in the middle of the chest and the ball rolled all the back to mound.