St. John’s baseball is already making waves in the NCAA Tournament.
The Red Storm pulled off a 6-5 upset victory over No. 10 Florida State in the first round of the NCAA regional in Tallahassee on Friday as they look to advance to the seventh College World Series in program history.
The win marks the Red Storm’s first NCAA regional opening round victory since 2012.
The Johnnies, who at one time trailed 5-2, tied the game in the top of the eighth inning and took the lead in the ninth on junior infielder Jayder Raifstanger’s run-scoring single.
Right-hander Evan Hoeckele got the final five outs to lock down the victory.
Florida State jumped out to an early lead with a solo home run by freshman outfielder John Stuetzer in the first inning. But St. John’s answered back with a solo shot from sophomore Adam Agresti in the second.
The Seminoles led by three following a string of hits resulting in the sixth and an impressive outing from starting pitcher Bryson Moore, who struck out six and gave up two earned runs in five innings, mostly kept St John’s in check.
But then the comeback was for St. John’s.
Red Storm outfielder Dylan Fitzsimmons blasted a solo shot in the eighth to cut Florida State’s lead to two. St. John’s then scored two runs, one via a wild pitch and another on a passed ball, to get the game even.
After holding the Seminoles scoreless in the bottom half, Raifstanger ripped an RBI single in the ninth to give St. John’s its first lead of the game. Hoeckele allowed two singles but induced a weak grounder to third that turned into a game-ending double play.
St. John’s will play the winner of the Northern Illinois-Coastal Carolina game on Saturday at 6 p.m.
After a slow start to 1-10 start to 2026, St. John’s enjoyed a massive turnaround by winning 23 of its last 30 games.
Two-time All-Big East first team selection Jon LeGrande, who went 2-for-4 with a run and a walk, recently told The Post that getting swept by California Baptist in late March was a turning point for the St. John’s locker room.
“All of us locked in and looked at ourselves in the mirror. We had to find our identity as a team, and that’s exactly what we did right after that sweep,” LeGrande said. “Once we got swept, our eyes kind of opened up a bit, and realized we have to fix this now or our season is going to be over pretty quick.
“We started being a lot more selfless, the way the Johnnies play baseball.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
