Coming into the Big East tournament, the St. John’s baseball team’s hopes for an NCAA tournament berth was a long shot. The Red Storm, with 15 freshmen on their roster, had an up-and-down season and finished fourth place in the conference.
But the young Johnnies hit their stride at the right time. They beat No. 9 Louisville in the double-elimination tournament not once, but twice. And Sunday afternoon, St. John’s knocked off No. 18 Connecticut, 3-0, in the championship game at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla., for a record sixth overall Big East tourney title and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
On three days rest, freshman Kyle Hansen gave up no runs on two hits in 6-1/3 innings in the finale and was given the Jack Kaiser Award for the tournament’s most outstanding player. St. John’s (40-18), which had not won a conference tourney title since 1997, will learn its seed and regional location Monday during the selection show, which begins 12:30 p.m. This is the third time in four years SJU will make a regional appearance.
Shortstop Joe Panik went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored Sunday and was named to the all-tournament team. Closer Daniel Burawa picked up the difficult save in the ninth.
UConn (47-14) loaded the bases, but Burawa got Pierre LePage to ground into a tournament-ending, 4-6-3 double play.
mraimondi@nypost.com