TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Interstat) — Dylan Fitzsimmons drove in four runs and St. John’s pounded out 20 hits in a 21-8 rout of Northern Illinois on Sunday afternoon in an NCAA tournament game at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium.

Fitzsimmons, the Red Storm’s right fielder, went 2 for 5 with a three-run home run in the fifth inning and a walk. He also doubled and scored three times. The victory improved St. John’s to 35-24; the Huskies fell to 36-18.

The game turned decisively in the top of the fourth inning. Northern Illinois had built a 5-0 lead after three innings behind a two-run double from Smith and a two-run single from Rob. But St. John’s answered with a nine-run explosion that began with a walk to Cowan and a hit-by-pitch to Frey.

With the bases loaded, Mansour singled to left to score Cowan. Fitzsimmons walked to force in another run, and LeGrande singled up the middle to drive in two more. A groundout by Raifstanger brought home Fitzsimmons, and Agresti singled to left to score LeGrande. Cowan followed with a two-run double, and Frey doubled to bring home Cowan. By the time the inning ended, St. John’s had sent 13 batters to the plate and led 9-5.

The Red Storm kept pouring it on. In the top of the fifth, Bernardini singled in a run and Mansour doubled to drive in another. Fitzsimmons then crushed a three-run homer to deep right, his sixth of the season, making it 12-5. St. John’s added three more in the seventh on Mansour’s RBI single and a sacrifice fly by LeGrande, plus a run on a wild pitch. The Red Storm tacked on two runs in the eighth on a double-play groundout, and two more in the ninth on Shaun’s two-run single.

Northern Illinois never recovered. The Huskies got solo home runs from Romer in the second and from Jennings in the seventh, and Romer added another solo shot in the bottom of the seventh for his third of the season. Designated hitter Marcus Romero went 2 for 5 with two homers and two RBIs. But St. John’s pitchers held Northern Illinois to 10 hits and struck out 14 batters.

Evan Chaffee started for St. John’s and worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing five earned runs on zero hits — the Huskies did all their damage on walks, hit-by-pitches and a sacrifice bunt — while striking out nine. Nick Romer threw a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to close the game.

Jon LeGrande led St. John’s with four hits, scoring three times and driving in three runs. Rob Mansour had three hits and three RBIs, Shaun McMilan added three hits and two RBIs, and Raifstanger doubled and singled in the ninth inning rally. For Northern Illinois, Alex Day struck out one in a scoreless ninth, and Tyler Deleskiewicz and Kayden Jennings each tossed a scoreless inning of relief.

The game started as an afternoon matchup but stretched into the evening due to the lengthy innings and multiple pitching changes, including St. John’s successful challenge of a hit-by-pitch call in the third and a Northern Illinois challenge of a catch in the sixth.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of St. John’s 8, Northern Illinois 6. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Red Storm a 68.00 percent probability to win.