NEW ORLEANS - St. John's left fielder Jeremy Baltz's two-run double in the top of the 12th lifted the Red Storm to a 5-2 win at New Orleans on Saturday at Maestri Field.
Baltz, who was 0-for-5 entering the at-bat, hit a seeing-eye ground ball over third base -- plating Greg Hopkins and Paul Karmas -- as St. John's (2-0) won for the second straight day.
Sean O'Hare went 4-for-6, while Hopkins and Parque added two hits and an RBI for the Red Storm.
Matt Carasiti (2-0) picked up the win in relief, tossing three shutout innings while allowing only two hits.
The Privateers (0-2) got two hits each from Nick Schwaner, Jay Morris and Kevin Berry, and Mike Petello tallied two RBIs. UNO left 10 runners on base.
"I was proud of the kids for the way they bounced back after (Friday) night," said UNO head coach Bruce Peddie, whose team managed just four hits in Friday's loss. "We got some really clutch pitching, and we had some good at-bats. We just couldn't get the key hit."
Kevin DeGrouttola (0-1) got the loss after allowing three runs in the 12th. All three runs, however, were unearned.
UNO struggled to get going for the second straight day. St. John's starter Nick Cenatiempo struck out seven and allowed only one hit in four innings.
The Red Storm held a 2-0 lead before UNO cut the deficit to 2-1 in the sixth on an infield single from Petello.
The Privateers tied it in the eighth on a Petello sacrifice fly.
The UNO bullpen kept the hosts in it, as Jim McGongile - coming off arm surgery last year - threw four scoreless innings before DeGrouttola tossed a scoreless 11th.
But Baltz came through with a two-out hit in the 12th, and O'Hare provided an insurance run with an RBI single.
The two teams will wrap up the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
