QUEENS, N.Y. – One swing of the bat from Chris Maranto and a solid outing on the mound from Gunner Johnson put Butler in the driver's seat Friday afternoon, but the lead wouldn't hold as St. John's came back with a three-run seventh inning to record a 3-1 win in game one of the three game series.

Maranto continued to swing a hot bat as his solo homerun over the wall in left centerfield in the first inning gave BU an early lead. Johnson would protect that lead by shutting out the Red Storm through the first five innings of the game. The lefty would eventually allow his first hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth, but the bottom of the seventh turned out to be the deciding factor as a two-run homerun followed by an RBI double would give St. John's the 3-1 come from behind win.

The hit total was dead even as each club recorded six on the day. Austin Miller paced BU with a 2-for-4 day near the bottom of the order. Tyler Sanchez matched that effort with a 2-for-3 day near the bottom of the Red Storm lineup. Sanchez came up with a clutch RBI double in the seventh inning after Michael Donadio gave STJ the lead with his two-run homerun.

Butler went down quietly in the eighth inning, but made a push to get back into the game in the top of the ninth. A rare 9-3 double play hurt the comeback chance as Fries flied out to right field where a diving Red Storm outfielder made a great play and got to his feet to throw out Brodie Meyer at first who was pinch running for Quincy Quintero.

Ryan Wojciechowski entered the game to deliver a pinch-hit single and Miller made it back-to-back hits for the 'Dogs putting the pressure on STJ. The final play of the game was anything, but easy as Kseniak hit a chopper back up the middle where Joe Kuzia got a glove on it. Kuzia ran the ball over near first base but a bad underhand toss almost cost him as the first baseman came up with a nice scoop grab to get the final out of the contest.

St. John's moved to 18-13 overall with the win while Butler falls to 14-18. Each team owns a 2-2 record in conference competition.

Game two will be televised live on Fox Sports 2 tomorrow at 2 p.m. Kyle Allen will take the mound for BU looking for his fourth win of the season.