St. John’s baseball team defeated Butler 7-2 at Jack Kaiser Stadium on May 15, evening the final series of its regular season.
The result puts St. John’s at a 14-6 record in the Big East Conference, tying them in the win column with UConn and Xavier as of early Friday evening. The outcome keeps postseason possibilities open for all three teams, with St. John’s holding tiebreakers over both rivals.
Jayder Raifstanger led St. John’s offense, going 4-for-5 with a double and a home run while driving in six runs and scoring twice. Jon LeGrande added two hits, two walks, three runs scored, and two stolen bases for his eighteenth multi-hit game of the year. Rob Mansour also had two hits, while Lewis Rodriguez doubled and scored twice and Shaun McMillan contributed an RBI double.
On the mound, Evan Chaffee pitched six innings allowing one run and striking out six to improve to a perfect conference record this season. Jack Nestler earned his first save by striking out three over three no-hit innings.
Butler opened scoring in the first inning before St. John’s responded immediately to tie it up in their half of the frame with doubles from Raifstanger and McMillan. A three-run home run by Raifstanger in the third gave St. John’s its first lead at 4-1; additional runs followed in subsequent innings through timely hitting from LeGrande and Raifstanger.
The Red Storm will close out their regular season against Butler on Saturday at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
