By Dylan Butler
The first-place Johnnies also extended their Big East winning streak to six straight games, its longest streak since 1998 when they won seven in a row. Anthony Varvaro, who pitched back-to-back shutouts and was coming off a 17-strikeout performance, fanned 10 in a 13-2 series opening win Saturday afternoon. The junior from Staten Island went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks to improve to 5-2 on the year. After Georgetown took a 2-0 lead on an Andrew Clearey home run – only the seventh extra-base hit allowed by Varvaro all season – St. John's rallied to tie the game in the third inning and scored 11 runs over the final four innings to cruise to victory.Chris Joachim broke a 2-2 tie with a solo homer to left, his third of the year, and the Red Storm put the game away with 3 runs in the fourth and 4 more in the fifth inning. Eddie Schultz highlighted a 4-run seventh inning with a 3-run home run. In the nightcap of the doubleheader, Will Vogl snapped a 2-2 tie with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and the Red Storm added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth to defeat Georgetown, 5-2. Redshirt sophomore Justin Muir threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for the win, improving to 3-2. He relieved starter Jim Wladyka, who gave up 2 runs – 1 earned – on 3 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Junior Craig Hansen struck out 3 batters in the final 2 innings to pick up his fifth save of the year. On Sunday, junior Rob Delaney held the Hoyas to 3 hits over 6 innings and Greg Thompson drove in 4 runs to lead St. John's to an 8-1 rout. After the Red Storm scored 2 runs in the first inning, Thompson put the Johnnies in front, 5-0 with a 3-run home run over the rightfield wall – his fifth homer of the year – in the third inning. Sophomore transfer Anthony Smith belted a solo homer in the eighth inning to cap the scoring.Muir and Anthony Sullivan threw scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth innings and Hansen gave up a run but closed the game out in the ninth inning.Jim Martin, who hit .692 with 3 doubles, 3 RBI and 3 runs scored against Georgetown, was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Monday.After non-conference games against St. Peter's and Iona, the Red Storm travel to Morganstown, W.Va. to take on West Virginia this weekend. The Mountaineers are 14-19 overall and 4-6 in the conference and sit in seventh place in the Big East.Concordia 6, Queens College 3. Rich Yanatos went 3-for-4 and Rob Aronowitz smacked a 2-run home run for Queens, which fell to 4-10-1 and 3-5-1 in NYCAC play Monday.Queensborough Community College 4, Suffolk CC 3. Dan Dioguardi struck out 6 and allowed 1 earned run in 6.2 innings and Felipe Martinez retired the final batter to pick up the save for Queensborough (11-11, 6-2 Region XV) in the first game of a doubleheader Sunday.Queensborough CC 9, Suffolk CC 7. Dave Mercado was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Martinez earned the save for the Tigers in the nightcap.Queens College 9, Bridgeport University 8. Vinny Miller drove in Rich Yanatos to cap a 2-run rally in the 10th inning to give the Knights the win Saturday in Flushing. Luca Paraschivoiu, who has 6 hits in his last 10 at-bats, belted a pair of singles and a double and John Palladino went 2-for-3 with an RBI. The Knights also beat Bridgeport, 9-4 Friday in Connecticut. Paparella earns NYCAC honorsQueens softball player Jessica Paparella has been picked as the NYCAC Player of the Week ending on April 10. Paparella excelled at both the plate and on the mound to help Queens (13-8, 5-3 NYCAC) to a 7-1 week, including five wins in six conference games.The Deer Park, L.I. native batted .458 with 3 homers and 7 RBIs while posting a slugging percentage of .917 and an on base percentage of .536. Paparella also won all three of her pitching decisions with a 0.91 earned run average and 18 strikeouts over 23 innings, including a 5-inning shutout of Molloy and a 10-inning, complete game win at Adelphi in which she surrendered just 1 earned run.SoftballSt. John's 7, Boston College 4. Jo Sherlock and Allina Sainz each belted 3-run home runs and Meghan Allman and Lisa Geer combined to toss a 5-hitter to lift St. John's (15-21, 2-4 Big East) in the opener of a doubleheader Sunday.Boston College 3, St. John's 2. Sherlock and Christina Tucker each hit solo homers for the Red Storm but Ashley Obreast had a double and a home run to lead Boston College (13-15, 3-3 Big East) in the nightcap.Queens College 5, Bloomfield College 4. Katie Karpinksi and Crystal Wilson each went 2-for-4 and drove in runs in the bottom of the seventh as Queens (13-8, 5-3 NYCAC) rallied from a 4-3 deficit to win the opener of a doubleheader Sunday. Jessica Paparella struck out 8 for the complete-game win.Queens College 2, Bloomfield College 1. Paparella went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Allison Castellucci scored on a throwing error in the seventh to win it for the Lady Knights in the nightcap of the doubleheader.Reach Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
