Baseball Ends Three-Week Layoff With Sweep of John Jay

YAPHANK, N.Y. – Led by a four-RBI afternoon from senior Joe Mendez (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) and a strong performance on the mound by junior Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees HS), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team defeated John Jay College, 8-4 and 11-5 in a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Baseball Heaven.

St. Joseph's (3-4) who was playing for the first time in three weeks due to weather postponements started off slow in game one, surrendering two runs in the bottom of the first and it looked like the layoff may come back to bite the Bears. However, John Jay (0-7) would have trouble getting the bats going after the first as sophomore Rosario DiLorenzo (Howard Beach, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) threw five scoreless innings before giving up two runs in the seventh.

DiLorenzo went the distance giving up four earned runs on eight hits with six strikeouts for his second win of the season. After recording only one hit through two innings, St. Joseph's broke through with five runs in the third, sending nine players to the plate as they got to John Jay starter Michael Wang who took the loss giving up eight earned runs in seven innings. The Bears were helped by three consecutive RBI singles from Mendez, junior Vinny Rossi (Bayside, N.Y./Holy Cross) and freshman Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) to take the lead for good at 5-2.

St. Joseph's tacked on a run in the sixth with an RBI double by junior Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and added two more in the seventh on a two-RBI double by Domenick Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) to take a comfortable 8-2 lead heading into the Bloodhounds last at-bat. John Jay was able to get two runs across in the bottom of the seventh, but the deficit proved too much to overcome as DiLorenzo got a flyout to center to end the game.

In game two St. Joseph's got off to a good start scoring runs in each of the first four innings to take a 7-0 lead, helped by an RBI single from freshman Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) in the second, a Mendez two-base hit and LoPrinzi base knock in the third. However, the story of the game was the superb outing by Cutrone who went six innings, allowing only one earned run on two hits and fanned three for his first win of the year.

The Bears scored four more runs over the sixth and seventh innings to take a commanding 11-1 lead going into the last of the seventh. John Jay got to the St. Joseph's bullpen, scoring four runs in the bottom half of the inning after Cutrone was pulled, but the lead once again was too much for the Bloodhounds to come back from.

Mendez finished the day going 4-for-8 along with his four RBI, while LoPrinzi went 3-for-6 with four RBI over the two games. Rossi went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI in game one and Rapp concluded the day 3-for-7 with an RBI and run scored.

TURNING POINT – GAME ONE

After letting John Jay take a 2-0 lead after the first inning, the Bears responded with a five-run third to take a 5-2 lead and would lead the rest of the way. During the inning St. Joseph's sent nine players to the plate and scored four of the runs on three consecutive singles with two outs in the inning.

TURNING POINT – GAME TWO

The Bears got on the board with a run in the first before scoring two runs in each of the next three innings to take a commanding 7-0 lead after four innings. Leading the way for St. Joseph's was Mendez who had an RBI double in the third before following that up with an RBI single in the fourth.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORES

• Other Contributors: McKenna (1-for-7. 3 RBI) Mike Cundari (2-for-7, 4 R)
• 11 different Bears recorded a hit over the two games.
• St. Joseph's did not commit an error in either game.
• The Bears threatened for more runs throughout both games, leaving a combined 19 runners stranded.
• Both teams walked ten batters over the course of both games.
• DiLorenzo improves to 2-0 on the season, while Cutrone moves to 1-1.

THE BEAR FACTS

• St. Joseph's improves to 10-3 against John Jay with the sweep and have won eight straight in the series.
• DiLorenzo now has six complete games in his career and is 7-2 in his career on the mound.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS – STATEN ISLAND

St. Joseph's doubleheader at Staten Island originally scheduled for Wednesday will now be played tomorrow, March 18th at 3:30 p.m.