Bears Fall to John Jay In Season Finale

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College baseball team concluded their 2010 campaign suffering a 14-7 setback to John Jay on Wednesday afternoon at MCU Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones.  With the loss, the teams split the season series, 1-1.  Sophomore first baseman Anthony Langone (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) led the Bears with a pair of hits, driving in two runs.

After an exciting game in the encounter earlier in the season which St. Joseph's prevailed 14-13 with a walk-off home run by Joe Harten, John Jay built an early lead and the Bears were unable to close the gap, missing several starters due to injury and class obligations, with the game scheduled earlier in the week.

John Jay (12-30) opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first on a two-run single by Wilmer Chavez.  The Bears cut the deficit in half in their next at bat after Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) led off with a triple and came home on a Joe Saez (Brooklyn, NY/Cobble Hill) single. Diaz finishes the season on a six-game hitting streak and successfully hitting in 10 of his last 11 games.

The Bloodhounds, who celebrated Senior Day, opened a 9-1 lead plating three runs in the second and four runs in the third, collecting nine of their 21 hits over those two frames and knocking Bears' starter Chris Coffey off the mound in the third inning.  Coffey took the loss for St. Joe's giving up eight runs on eight hits, striking out two and walking two.  Paul Piccirillo (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) tossed the final six innings in relief allowing six runs on 13 hits, striking out two and walking one.

St. Joseph's got on the board again in the fifth, adding a single tally on a two-out single by Harten scoring Joseph Boccia (Westwood, NJ/Westwood) who reached on an error.  John Jay added two runs in the bottom half of the frame extending their lead to 11-2.

The Bears got those runs back in the sixth knocking three straight hits to open the inning.  John Porcelli led off with a single and Saez knocked his second hit of the game, the only other Bear with a multi-hit game.  Langone then roped a triple to the right field corner delivering Porcelli and Saez.  The rally stalled however as St. Joe's failed to generate any more offense in the inning.

John Jay led off the eighth with five straight hits tacking on three runs, extending their lead to 14-4.  Xavier Perez and Chavez started the inning with singles, both finishing the game with 4-for-5 performances to lead Bloodhounds.  Perez scored three runs and drove in two, while Chavez had three RBI.

In the final frame, St. Joseph's plated three runs taking advantage of four John Jay miscues in the infield.

Steven Kendrick earned the win for John Jay allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits, striking out seven.

In the first season under head coach Scott Losche, St. Joseph's concludes their season with a 10-22 record.