By Dylan Butler
It was the hit the St. John’s baseball team had waited 2 1/2 games for. After just five hits in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep at the hands of Notre Dame and trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth in the series finale Sunday, Chris Fallon blasted J.P. Gagne’s 1-1 pitch down the right field line.
Finally, it seemed, the Red Storm had gotten hold of the vaunted Irish pitching staff. Home plate umpire Joe DeCrescenzo gave the home run signal and with one swing of the bat, momentum had tilted in St. John’s favor as Fallon hit his record-breaking 36th career Red Storm home run.
It seemed too good to be true. And it was. After Fallon was congratulated at home plate and the run was registered on the scoreboard, the home run was called back, reversed by third base umpire Pete Amoruso.
It was that kind of day for St. John’s as No. 1 ranked Notre Dame held onto its lead, adding four runs in the final two innings to sweep the Red Storm, 7-3 at The Ballpark at St. John’s University.
“I saw the ball the whole way and I knew it would be a tough call. The home plate umpire said he saw the ball three-quarters of the way and lost it,” Fallon said. “But if you’re going to talk about it, talk about. Don’t make a decision and then have a conversation after the fact. That was our one big break. It was really a momentum change.”
St. John’s (26-18, 13-10) entered the weekend series tied for second place with Rutgers in the Big East conference. But after three straight losses, the Red Storm now finds itself in fifth place in the conference standings. And with just two weeks left in the regular season, St. John’s is on the outside looking in as the top four teams make the Big East Tournament.
“You have to be aggressive, efficient and take advantage of opportunities when you play this team,” said St. John’s coach Ed Blankmeyer. “We did neither of them and [Notre Dame] did all of them.”
Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, the Red Storm had another great chance to tie the score when Chad Cambra tripled to the gap in right-center field to lead off the inning.
Bryan Hedgecock flied out to shallow left field, too shallow to score Cambra. Jason Fischette followed and on a 1-1 count, Cambra motored home. But Fischette missed the squeeze bunt and Cambra was tagged out by Notre Dame third baseman Andrew Bushey scampering back to third to end what was such a promising rally.
“I thought the pitch was squeezable,” Blankmeyer said. “I’m not going to second-guess the call. We actually pride ourselves on our bunting, but we just didn’t execute.”
But Blankmeyer did have a problem with the reversal of Fallon’s home run ball. The shot was so high that it seemed to disappear from sight. Even Irish rightfielder Brian Stavisky waved his arms in confusion.
“I didn’t get a good view of it, but neither did [third base umpire Amoruso],” said Blankmeyer, who was coaching third base. “It was a poor job on their part. The home plate umpire should make the call. You don’t go to the third base umpire who should have been watching the runner. It changed the complexion of the game at that point.”
Notre Dame (40-6-1, 18-2) took advantage of two leadoff walks by St. John’s freshman Joe Reid to score one run in three of the first four innings. Leading 3-2 in the top of the eighth, the Fighting Irish jumped all over Red Storm reliever Tom Klemm for three consecutive hits to take a 5-2 lead. Notre Dame added two more runs on Alex Porzel’s two-run home run to left field in the top of the ninth.
“In the first five innings, we didn’t hit. We didn’t do anything to put pressure on them,” Blankmeyer said. “They don’t make mistakes. They’re very efficient offensively and have good starting pitching.”
After non-league games against Columbia, Fairfield, C.W. Post, Manhattan and New York Tech, St. John’s closes out its regular season with a three game series at Rutgers, May 12-13.
Notre Dame 3, St. John’s 2. The Irish scored all three of their runs in the first inning and first-team All-American pitcher Aaron Heilman cruised the rest of the way, allowing two runs on three hits as Notre Dame edged the Red Storm in the front end of a double-header Saturday.
Heilman wasn’t dominant but he was good enough to win, improving to 11-0 and raising his ERA to 1.43.
After struggling in the first inning, Geno Orsogna (5-1) pitched well for St. John’s, allowing just two more hits the rest of the way.
Notre Dame 5, St. John’s 0. Fighting Irish hurler Danny Tamayo (7-1) was brilliant, striking out nine in a two-hit complete game shutout in the nightcap. Red Storm ace Marc Goldberg picked up the loss, dropping to 4-5.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
