FLUSHING, NY — Representing the back-to-back Big East regular season and tournament champion St. John’s Red Storm on the Queens diamond instead of the hardwood Thursday night were the top two returning scorers from the 2025-2026 campaign Ian Jackson and Ruben Prey.
A six-five guard and six-eleven forward, respectively, on their home court of Madison Square Garden and Carnesecca Arena, but at Citi Field ahead of the Mets defeating the Marlins, 4-2, a Red Storm junior battery.
Growing up in the Bronx, NY, about two blocks away from Yankee Stadium, and a 20-30 minute drive to the Mets’ ballpark depending on New York City traffic, Jackson, nicknamed “Captain Jack,” transitioned into becoming a pitcher for Thursday’s pregame while Prey, as entertaining as it gets, was on the receiving end behind the plate.
A native of Lisbon, Portugal, Prey had never put on a baseball glove before Thursday.
“Never. This is actually, today’s gonna be the first time I touch a glove,” he said to surrounding media members as the 2026-2027 Red Storm Men’s Basketball team paid a visit to their professional sports borough neighbors.
Before and after an hour and six minute rain delay marked the first two times where Prey wore a glove and had an actual baseball catch.
“I think I got it,” he said leading up to Jackson’s first pitch, much more confident than when his former Johnnie teammate Zuby Ejiofor—selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft—had the honor to do so at Citi Field.
When asked about that very topic, Prey responded with “Yeah, Zuby’s pitch was horrible.”
Before Ian Jackson Thursday night and Dylan Darling back in April, Zuby Ejiofor was the first of three recent St. John’s Men’s Basketball players to throw out a first pitch at Citi Field – Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball
So, he remembered Ejiofor’s first pitch from April of 2025 and cracked a joke about it yet did not know where his glove would be coming from for Thursday. And the same went for Jackson.
“I have no idea,” Prey said. “I just knew (found out) about it like two days ago.”
And when he was suggested to catch?
“I said, ‘Yeah. It’d be a great opportunity.’”
Opportunities are what you make of them and for Prey, testing out his skills behind the plate for the first time, he got the job done, successfully securing Captain Jack’s first pitch.
A first pitch strike from the hometown kid, who had this to say on it all:
“It’s great, especially being from New York, it’s amazing to build something great here at home. It’s probably 20-25 minutes away from my house in the Bronx so it’s amazing to be a part of it.”
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