Welcome to the latest edition of “Inside the Enemy Ship”, once again featuring our rivals from across the river, St. John’s Red Storm! Our friend Carmine Carcieri was generous enough to share his thoughts on the upcoming game with us; keep on reading below!

BBA: How big was it for the team to get their first Big East win earlier this week? Does it matter that it was against DePaul?
CARCIERI: It was a very big win just for this young team to gain confidence down the stretch and build momentum for what should be a more competitive season next year. Even though DePaul is only ninth in the Big East, the Johnnies had to be pleased with their performance. They won by 15, played strong defense for the majority of the night, moved the ball successfully offensively and hit the glass. The Red Storm held Tommy Hamilton IV and Myke Henry to just 10 points and Billy Garrett Jr. struggled against the likes of Malik Ellison and Felix Balamou.

BBA: Does their one win during Big East play match your expectations for this team when the season started?
CARCIERI: At the beginning of the year, I knew this was going to be a rebuilding year and I certainly knew that playing a balanced league schedule would be too difficult for the Red Storm to be higher than ninth in the standings. But I did expect them to earn more than one conference victory and I still believe they will achieve that. St. John’s has Seton Hall (MSG), DePaul (on the road), Creighton (on the road) and Providence (MSG) to close out the season and honestly none of those teams are unbeatable. I’m not expecting the Red Storm to go on a winning streak but I do think they get at least one more victory.

BBA: Clearly the last game against Seton Hall didn’t go as the Johnnies planned. What went wrong?
CARCIERI: Seton Hall dominated the interior. Angel Delgado and Ismael Sanogo were unstoppable. The Johnnies don’t have physical big men to match up with those two. Kassoum Yakwe is developing his strength, Christian Jones is undersized and Yankuba Sima didn’t play in the first match-up due to a broken hand.

BBA: What will St. John’s have to do differently this time around?
CARCIERI: St. John’s fell apart after halftime at the Prudential Center so this time around they must focus on playing a full 40 minutes. They will have to knock down some perimeter shots, move the ball (similar to how they did against DePaul), get easy buckets in transition and most importantly, gang rebound.

BBA: This time around, who should Seton Hall be most worried about meeting on the court? Why?
CARCIERI: I think it’s either Kassoum Yakwe or Malik Ellison. Both players have improved drastically during conference play. Yakwe has always been an excellent shot blocker but he’s gaining feel around the rim and playing better offensively. Ellison is playing with aggressiveness/confidence, doing a better job of finishing around the rim and his size has been a huge plus for the Red Storm. His steady ball handling and shooting touch from the perimeter gives the Johnnies a better option at lead guard than Federico Mussini.

BBA: What kind of crowd are you expecting at MSG for the game against Seton Hall? Will the recent win help?
CARCIERI: The crowd has been surprisingly excellent all season long. The last two games at Carnesecca Arena were near sell-outs and while I don’t expect that to be the case tomorrow at MSG, there should be a solid presence of St. John’s fans in the house. There should also be a good amount of Seton Hall fans in attendance as well with this being a very important game for their NCAA Tournament hopes (basically they cannot afford to lose).

BBA: Final score prediction?
CARCIERI: Seton Hall 68 St. John’s 65. I’m expecting this to be a lot closer than the first meeting.

Once again, we’d like to thank Mr. Carcieri for taking the time to talk to us; his insight is always appreciated! Tip-off is Noon at MSG, and you can bet Blue Beard Army will be there. As always, Hazard Zet Forward.

The Seton Hall Pirates baseball team was back in action in Ft. Myers, Florida in game 2 of the double header against the Missouri Tigers. The Pirates pulled out their first win of the season as they beat Missouri 8-4. The pitching match up was LHP Cullen Dana for the Pirates against LHP Michael Plassmeyer for Missouri.

The Pirates got on the board in the top of the first when Derek Jenkins scored on a balk and gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead. An inning later, the Pirates added to their lead when Mike Caputo homered to left and gave the Hall a 2-0 lead. The scored remained 2-0 until the bottom of the third when the Tigers would get on the board. A walk to Jack Klages put a man on for Ryan Howard who hit his first home run of the season and tied the game at 2. A sacrifice fly from Mike Caputo and an RBI single from Matt Fortin gave Seton Hall a 4-2 lead after 4.

In the top of the 5th the Pirates added to the lead when Derek Jenkins scored on a fielders choice to make it a 5-2 lead. The score would remain that way until the bottom of the 8th. Jake Ring scored on a fielders choice and Brett Bond scored on a throwing error to cut the lead to 5-4. The Pirates were not going to let this one slip away though as they added on in the top of the 9th. Jackson Martin scored on a sac fly, Derek Jenkins scored on a throwing error, and Chris Chiaradio scored on a Joe Poduslenko double to give the Pirates an 8-4 lead. Despite some tense moments in the bottom half of the ninth, the Pirates would come away with an 8-4 victory.

Michael Plassmeyer took the loss for the Tigers. He threw 4 innings while allowing 5 runs on 9 hits. Liam Carter threw 2 hit less innings. Nolan Gromacki, Ty Shoaff, and Bryce Montes De Oca combined to throw 2 scoreless innings. Griffin Goodrich threw .2 of an inning while allowing 3 runs on 2 hits. Graham Ruopp retired the only batter he faced.

Cullen Dana collected the victory for the Pirates. The lefty threw 6 solid innings allowing just 2 runs on 1 hit while striking out 6. Sam Burum pitched a clean inning, and Anthony Pacillo allowed 1 earned run on 1 hit in .1 of an inning. Chris Morris picked up his first save of the season. He pitched 1.2 innings while allowing 1 hit and striking out 4.

The Pirates improve to 1-2 on the season and the Tigers fall to 2-1. The Pirates will look to split the series when they take on Missouri in the finale tomorrow. The Pirates basketball team will also be in action tomorrow as they take on St. John’s. We will have full recaps of both games tomorrow. Until then, Hazard Zet Forward.