Men’s Baseball Splits With Staten Island to Pick Up First Win of Season

(STATEN ISLAND, NY)  Chris Coffey (Brooklyn, NY/Kingsborough CC) pitched a complete game three-hit shutout in the opening game of a double header against College of Staten Island to lead the St. Joseph's College men's baseball team to their first win of the season.  The Bears won the first game 6-0 and lost the second 8-3.  St. Joseph's improves to 1-6 overall and Staten Island goes to 5-5.

A.J. Passione(Brooklyn, NY/Xavarian) led off the first inning getting hit by a pitch and stealing second to move into scoring position.  Joseph Boccia (Westwood, NJ/Westwood) sacrificed bunted to move Passione over to third and Jon Mendez (Brooklyn, NY/Xavarian) hit a sacrifice fly to center for the deciding run.

St. Joseph's added another run in the fourth, Mario Noriega (Los Angeles, CA/South Pasadena) leading off with a single to left and Anthony Langone (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) following with another single to left.  John Porcelli (Brooklyn, NY/Xavarian) drove in Noriega with a single also to left field.

The Bears added four insurance runs for Coffey in the seventh.  St. Joseph's loaded the bases and Mendez and Chris Davidson (San Carlos, CA/Canada College) each singled to drive in a run.

Coffey (1-2) was magnificent on the mound, retiring the Dolphins in order in the first inning, striking out the first two batters.  CSI managed to lead off the third with a single but the Bears turned a double play en route to another 1-2-3 inning.  Only one Dolphin reached second base the entire game, Steve Hession reaching on an error in the sixth and stealing second.  Coffey only walked one batter the entire game and finished with four strikeouts.

St. Joseph's combined for 10 hits on the game with Mendez, Davidson, Noriega and Langone each getting two hits.  Mendez finished with two RBIs and scored once.  Passione scored two runs, with a hit and stolen base.  Boccia and Steve Tanamal (Brooklyn, NY/New Utrecht) also scored for the Bears.

In the second game, St. Joe's managed to put up two runs in the first inning on a two-run single from Davidson.  Staten Island scored their first three runs of the day in the second inning, all coming unearned off starter Danny Contant (Staten Island, NY/Xavarian).  The Dolphins added a run in the fourth and fifth innings and three more runs in the sixth inning.  St. Joseph's also committed four errors while the Dolphins remained flawless.

Contant (0-1) pitched 3.1 innings, giving up only one earned run on three hits, striking out one.  Passione went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base.  Davidson finished 1-for-2, batting in two.  Noriega had the only other hit for St. Joseph's and walked twice.  Mendez and Porcelli both scored for the Bears.

St. Joseph's returns to action on Saturday, March 21st to face City College of New York for a double header.  First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY.