Bears Baseball Wins Three in a Row, Defeats CCNY 11-2

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Behind seven shutout innings of one-hit ball from freshman Rosario DiLorenzo (Howard Beach, NY/Archbishop Molloy) and four hits from sophomore Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, NY/St. Francis Prep), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team captured an 11-2 victory over CCNY on Friday morning at Randalls Island. 

The Bears (11-1) have assembled a three-game streak while the Beavers (3-12) have traded wins and losses over their last five games.

The game was scoreless until St. Joseph's posted runs in pairs in the third, fourth and sixth innings and a trifecta in the seventh to give DiLorenzo a 9-0 lead when he stepped off the hill. The Beavers posted solo runs in the final two frames with the Bears tacking one two insurance runs in the top of the ninth

DiLorenzo (2-0) notched his second collegiate win in his fourth start on the mound. The freshman struck out 10, one shy of the single game record, set three times. The one hit allowed is the fewest for by a Bears hurler working at least seven innings.

McKenna finished the day batting 4-for-5 with three RBI, a double and two stolen bases. Vincent Rossi (Bayside, NY/Holy Cross) went 3-for-5 and Joe Mendez (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) went 2-for-5, to move within one hit of 100 for his career. Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) finished going 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored.

TURNING POINT

St. Joseph's got off to a fast start collecting three hits in the first two innings but was unable to produce a run as they left three runners on base. However, this changed in the top of the third as the Bears sent six batters to the plate scoring two unearned runs to give them a 2-0 lead which was all the support DiLorenzo needed. 

McKenna started off the inning reaching base on an error and would advance to third after an error by the second baseman on a steal attempt. Diaz followed that up with sacrifice fly to center field for the RBI. St. Joseph's tacked on one more run on a fielding error by the first baseman giving them a 2-0 lead. After receiving the early lead, DiLorenzo took the mound and allowed no hits the rest of the way as the Bears built a 9-0 lead when he left the game after the seventh.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Freshman Brian Luebcke went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
• The Bears batted 8-for-19 (.421) with two outs.
• The offense produced 14 hits with six different Bears recording a base knock.
• Freshman Sean O'Melia made his first collegiate appearance out of the bullpen going one inning allowing an earned run and two hits with a strikeout.

NEWS AND NOTES

• DiLorenzo has now gone seven shutout innings in two of his last three starts recording a total of 16 strikeouts while picking up the win in both outings.
• Mike Cundari (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) had his program-record reached base safely streak snapped at 27 games.
• The Bears have captured the last three meetings with CCNY and now lead the all-time series 4-3.
• McKenna now has a four-game hitting streak and is batting 10-for-19 (.526) during the streak.

UP NEXT FOR THE BEARS 

The Bears conclude their five-game stretch in four days with a twinbill against the College of Staten Island on Saturday, March 30th starting at noon at the CSI Baseball Complex.