St. John's Batsmen Win NCAA Northeast Regional

St. John's smoked favored Temple, 15-6, in the final game of the NCAA Northeast Regional baseball playoff Sunday to win the six-team tournament and gain a berth in the College World Series in Omaha. Harvard had been eliminated from the double-elimination tourney after losses to Delaware, last Wednesday, and St. John's, Thursday.

St. John's Redmen dominated their showdown with the Owls, stealing nine bases (to raise their total for the tourney to 39) while watching Temple commit seven errors.

Cruisin'

Temple slugger Jim Beck had given the Owls an early lead by whacking a three-run homer in the first inning, but St. John's got in gear and pulled away and cruised to victory with five runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the sixth.

The Redmen became the first team in history to win the tournament after having lost its opening contest. Holy Cross had beaten St. John's 5-3 on catcher Rick Allen's two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning in their contest last Thursday.

But then St. John's came alive, reeling off five straight wins in decisive fashion to take the tourney. The Redmen knocked off Delaware in consecutive games, then had to handle Temple twice in a row to win it all.

Murderous

Their most convincing win came last Thursday, when St. John's rebounded off its morning loss to Holy Cross and thrashed exam-weary Harvard, 8-0.

The Crimson displayed none of the fine hitting the squad had shown all season in that contest, managing only three hits over nine innings. Jim Peccerillo's bunt single in the second was the only Harvard base hit until Rick Pearce and Chuck Marshall strung together a pair of singles in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Sloppy and Choppy

By that point, any runs on Harvard's part would have been almost meaningless. Sloppy fielding by the Crimson yielded six runs to St. John's in the sixth and seventh.

The Redmen managed only six hits, but they came when they were needed, and three quick Harvard errors gave them the game.

Ignited by the victory, the Redmen cruised through the rest of the tournament and established themselves as the class of the East. St. John's will face the winner of the Rocky Mountain regional at Omaha Saturday in the opener of the eight-team NCAA finals tournament.

The Redmen, who own a 40-16 record for the '78 season, will be making their first appearance at the nationals since 1968. Temple represented the East last year at Omaha.

Been A Long Time

Harvard last traveled to the nationals in 1974, when the batsmen tied for seventh place after losing 4-1 and 4-2 ballgames immediately after the end of exams. Other Harvard squads competed at the nationals in 1973 (tied for seventh also), 1971 (finished fifth) and 1968 (tied for seventh).

The Crimson finished the season with a 24-10 record.