April 20, 2007

Baseball

St. John's - 16 Georgetown - 0

Two years ago today, sophomore Scott Barnes threw a no-hitter as St. John's smoked Georgetown 16-0 at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Maryland.

The southpaw from Springfield, Massachusetts struck out a career high 14 batters and walked only three as the Red Storm improved to 23-12, 9-4 in the Big East. "It was just one of those days where everything clicked for me," said Barnes. "I was throwing all of my pitches for strikes. I had movement on my fastball, and my curveball was breaking well. I was ahead of the batters. I was making them swing at my pitches when I got ahead."

Barnes struck out the side three times and retired the side in order on five occasions. On his 130th pitch of the night, he struck out DH Sean Baumann swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end it. 

"That was the first no-hitter I've seen in my 12 years here at St. John's," said head coach Ed Blankmeyer. "I haven't even been in a situation where a guy was close. He was dominant for most of the night, they only hit maybe two balls hard, but as in all no-hitters he had some help behind him and a little bit of luck."

The Hoyas (14-24, 3-10) best chance came in the bottom of the fourth when shortstop Matthew Bouchard's drive to deep left center was chased down and snagged by freshman Brian Kemp just in front of the wall.

"I started thinking about it around the seventh inning," Barnes said. "I knew all along that I hadn't allowed a hit. I thought, 'If I can get through the seventh, I've got to do it.' I wasn't going to hold back for anything." The Cathedral High product struck out 8 batters in the last three innings to secure the second no-no in program history. 

"I felt pretty good," continued Barnes, who joined Gerry McKiernan (1976) as the only players to throw a no-hitter for St. John's. "It was more adrenaline than anything. It made things easier."

The Johnnies offense had no such problems, belting out 20 hits and scoring in every inning except the fifth. 

Barnes is currently pitching in the California League for San Jose, a class A+ affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.

SJU-Georgetown Boxscore