Baseball's Win Streak Snapped by USMMA

KINGS POINT, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team's four-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, falling 10-4 on Tuesday night at Lower Roosevelt Field.

The Bears (17-9) fell behind 8-0 through four and a half innings and never recovered as the Mariners (17-12) remained unbeaten all-time against St. Joseph's and won their fourth-straight game.

Sophomore right-hander Chris Cutrone (Levittown, NY / Island Trees HS) got the start for the Bears and managed to escape a bases loaded jam in the first inning before permitting the Mariners to get on the board in the top of the second. The Mariners broke the game open in the middle innings, aided by some defensive miscues by the Bears, with three runs in the fourth and four runs in the fifth building a comfortable 8-0 lead.

Junior right fielder Joe Mendez (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) added to his team-leading RBI total (33) with a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth and lead the Bears at the plate finishing 2-for-4.

Sophomore Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, NY/St. Francis Prep) reached base safely for the 18th straight game, finishing 1-for-4 with a RBI and run scored. 

TURNING POINTS

Cutrone and the Bears trailed only 1-0 after three innings, but the Mariners bats broke out in the third courtesy of a two-run triple from Nicholas Dimas, just past the outstretched Mendez.

Leading 4-0 at the start of the fifth, the Mariners were able to increase their lead, taking advantage of two St. Joseph's errors and some timely hitting, scoring four more runs.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Cutrone worked five innings and allowed eight runs (five earned) on 10 hits, striking out one and walking one, and fell to 3-5 on the season.
• USMMA shortstop Danny Collins led the Mariners going 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.
• Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) gained sole possession of the team lead in stolen bases by nabbing his 14th bag of the season and later scored.
• The Bears were held to seven hits in total, with Mendez knocking a pair of base knocks and Cutrone, McKenna, Vinny Rossi, Domenick Camerada and Danny Zaretsky collecting the remaining hits. 
• Bears freshman left-hander Kenny Smith (Belle Harbor, NY/Monsignor McClancy) made his third appearance of the season allowing one unearned run in his one inning of work and struck out two of the three Mariners on the day.
• The Bears used five different pitchers in total with Donny Pagano, Matt Brigando, Smith and Elvis Diaz each working one inning in relief.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Sophomore Domenick Camerada (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) broke the Bears single-season record for runners caught stealing by throwing out his 17th base stealer of the season, and now shares the career record in just one season.
• McKenna and Mendez extended their hitting streaks to six games in the loss.
• The Bears are now 0-6 all-time against the Mariners.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS - CCNY

The Bears will take on CCNY at the SJC Outdoor Complex in Patchogue, NY tomorrow, April 24th with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on SJCBears.com and updates on Twitter via @SJCBears.