Xavier Baseball Repeats as BIG EAST Champions, Knocks Off St. John's 7-6 in Omaha

Sunday, May 28

Omaha, Neb.

1 P.M.

Xavier University

32-25

No. 2 St. John's

42-11

Xavier

St. John's

Xavier Baseball Repeats as BIG EAST Champions, Knocks Off St. John's 7-6 in Omaha

05.28.17 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

Musketeers battled back from three down twice, win third title in four years since joining league

By: Brendan Bergen, Xavier Athletic Communications

OMAHA, Neb. - Xavier baseball clinched its third BIG EAST Championship in four years on Sunday afternoon, beating No. 20 St. John's 7-6 at TD Ameritrade Park.

It was the second straight league tournament title for the Musketeers, who moved to 32-25 overall with a seventh straight win. XU has now scored 70 runs during the spurt.

Xavier also improves to 9-1 in BIG EAST Tournament games all-time after sweeping its way to the title last season and going 3-1 in 2014.

St. John's dropped to 42-11 with the loss and is still widely expected to be an at-large team for the NCAA Tournament, which would give the BIG EAST two bids to the national tournament for the first time in its current configuration.

Xavier fell behind 3-0 and then 6-3, battling back both times and eventually taking the lead for good with a four-run seventh inning.

Sophomore Trey Schramm was lights out in the bullpen for a second straight game, recording a six out save and striking out three. Senior Brad Kirschner got the win, tossing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief as XU held on.

NEXT UP

• The automatic qualifier from the BIG EAST Conference, Xavier will learn its NCAA Tournament regional destination on Monday when the selection show airs on ESPN2 at Noon ET.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

P: Zac Lowther, XU
P: Trey Schramm, XU
INF: Gui Gringras, SJU
INF: Chris Givin, XU
INF: Josh Shaw, SJU
INF: Mitch Gallagher, XU
OF: Riley Landuyt, CU
OF: Michael Donadio, SJU
OF: Will LaRue, XU
C: MIchael Emodi, CU
DH: Conor Grammes, XU
Jack Kaiser Most Outstanding Player: Conor Grammes, Xavier, Fr., DH

VIDEO

PRESSER | Postgame with the BIG EAST Champions https://t.co/JckEJAcWtQ
— Xavier Baseball (@XavierBASE) May 28, 2017

XU AT THE PLATE

• Seven different Musketeers recorded an RBI in a true team effort across the lineup.
• Xavier scored via the sacrifice fly three times, tying a TD Ameritrade Park record for the second time this week. XU is among the top teams nationally in sacrifice flies this season.
• Will LaRue had a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a double and driving in the winning run with a seventh inning single to right.
• Chris Givin went 1-for-5 with a run scored, extending his hitting streak to a team-best 15 straight games.
• Givin finished the tournament 6-for-14 (.429) with six runs scored.
• During XU's seven game winning streak, Givin is also hitting .478 (11-for-23) with 11 runs scored, five doubles and five RBI.
• Conor Grammes went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. The freshman has now reached base in 14 straight games.
• Grammes capped the tournament with a .600 (9-for-15) batting average, scoring five times with a homer and five RBI.
• During XU's seven game winning streak, Grammes is hitting .517 (15-for-29) with two homers and 10 RBI. He leads XU with a .336 batting average on the season.
• Nate Soria also went 1-for-4 with an RBI triple, scoring the third run in XU's fourth inning rally.

XU ON THE MOUND

• Trent Astle got the start, going 4.1 innings before a St. John's rally in the fifth. The senior lefty was charged with six earned runs and struck out two in the outing.
• Brad Kirschner came on with two on and three already across in the fifth, getting two big outs to stop a St. John's rally. He would finish with 2.2 innings of scoreless relief, stranding a runner on third in the seventh with a one-run lead.
• Trey Schramm came on for the eighth, allowing just one hit and striking out three in nailing down a six out save. The sophomore finished the tournament with 4.2 innings of scoreless relief and four strikeouts.

HOW XU SCORED

FIRST INNING: Joe Gellenbeck worked a leadoff walk, going to third on a double by Will LaRue. Mitch Gallagher followed with a sacrifice fly to right to get XU on the board. Nate Soria batted next and sent a ball to the wall in right center for an RBI triple. After St. John's went to the bullpen, Matt Fallon drove a sacrifice fly to center to score Soria and tie the game 3-3.
SEVENTH INNING: Matt Fallon reached on a fielding error by SJU shortstop Jesse Berardi to begin the inning, going to second on a walk by Ethan Schmidt. Chris Givin followed with a bloop single into right to load the bases with nobody out. Conor Grammes batted next, singling through the left side to score a run, and Rylan Bannon then lifted a sacrifice fly to left to make it one run game. After another pitching change, Joe Gellenbeck grounded out to second to tie the game. Will LaRue came up with the go-ahead single next, battling and sending a liner through the right side to score Grammes and make it 7-6.

PHOTOS

2017 BIG EAST Championship by Xavier Musketeers on Exposure