Mendez Breaks Home Run Mark, Cundari Joins Century Run Club as Baseball Sweeps Maritime

THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – Senior Joe Mendez (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) blasted four home runs on the day to become the all-time leader in school history and the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team pounded out 26 runs and 22 hits en route to a doubleheader sweep of SUNY Maritime, defeating the Privateers 19-5 in the opener before taking the nightcap 7-6 in six innings on Saturday afternoon at Reinhart Field.

Mendez now has 14 career home runs and surpasses Kevin Diaz, who had 13 career dingers, for the most in school history.

Also reaching a milestone was senior Mike Cundari (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) who became the third Bear ever to score 100 career runs with his five runs on the day and set a St. Joseph's single-game record with four walks in game one. Cundari finished 1-for-4 at the plate with a RBI and five walks.

St. Joseph's (9-6) moves a season-high three games over .500 and has won eight of their last ten games, including three in a row, while Maritime (4-12) has dropped three in a row following a two-game winning streak.

A slugfest broke out in the opener as the Bears recorded 15 base knocks, led by Mendez who went 3-for-3 with three long balls along with a career-high eight RBI. St. Joseph's jumped on the Privateers early, with the first home run of the day by Mendez, a three-run shot, that put the Bears up 3-0 after one.

Mendez struck again in the top half of the third with a solo shot that put St. Joseph's up 4-0 before freshman Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) singled to left field to drive in Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees HS), making it 5-0 heading to the Maritime home half of the third. Bears starter Rosario DiLorenzo (Howard Beach, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to trim the St. Joseph's lead to 5-2, but would settle in and pitch 5 1/3 strong innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on three hits, while striking out three to improve to 4-0 on the season.

With the score 6-3 heading to the top of the sixth, Mendez put an end to any hopes of a Maritime comeback as he sent a bomb over the fence for a grand slam that gave the Bears a commanding 10-3 lead and would break the game open with nine runs in the seventh.

The nightcap was a more competitive battle between the two squads as the game wasn't decided until the final inning. After a scoreless first inning, St. Joseph's broke through with a run in the second on an RBI single by Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) before Mendez connected on another pitch from a Privateer pitcher and sent it over the center field fence, scoring Cundari to put the Bears up 3-0 and it looked like another blowout may be in the works for St. Joseph's.

However, Maritime clawed its way back with a run in the fourth to make it 3-1. St. Joseph's responded with two runs in the next half inning with an RBI double off the bat of Cundari and a sacrifice fly from Mendez to make it 5-1. The Privateers battled right back and put up a four spot in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 5-5, heading to the last at bat for both teams.

The Bears took back the lead for good in the sixth as they scored two unearned runs off an error by the Maritime first baseman to take a 7-5 advantage going to the last at bat for the Privateers. After Cutrone pitched the first five innings of the game, sophomore Brian Luebcke (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) came in to pitch the sixth and got around a leadoff walk and a single, allowing only one run to seal the win for the Bears and earn the save.

Cutrone went five innings, surrendering five runs (four earned) on seven hits with four punchouts to pick up the win and move to 3-1 on the year.

Mendez finished his career day going 4-for-5 with 11 RBI and five runs scored, while Rapp concluded the day 4-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBI. Vinny Rossi (Bayside, N.Y./Holy Cross) hit 3-for-7 with two RBI and a run scored, while LoPrinzi batted 3-for-7, knocked in a run and came across to score twice on the day.

TURNING POINT – GAME ONE

Maritime got within 6-3 after scoring a run in their half of the fifth, but Mendez came through for the Bears with a grand slam in the sixth to build the lead back to 10-3 and St. Joseph's tacked on nine runs in the seventh to put the Privateers away.

TURNING POINT –GAME TWO

After Maritime scored four runs in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5, LoPrinzi led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a Domenick Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) groundout and to third on a Luebcke groundout. Rapp and Anthony Inserillo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) followed with walks and with the bases loaded Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) reached first on an error by the first baseman that allowed Rapp and LoPrinzi to score, giving St. Joseph's a 7-5 lead. Maritime got runners on first and third with one out, but a popup to the pitcher and a runner getting caught in a rundown after a run scored ended the threat and gave the win to the Bears.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Other Contributors: Camerada (2-for-7, 2 R, 2 RBI) 
• Mendez fell a two-run homer shy of hitting for the home run cycle in game one.
• The two teams combined for nine errors on the day with seven of them by Maritime.
• Walks were an issue for both teams as they issued a combined 30 between the two games.
• Eight different Bears recorded a hit in the opener and seven different players accumulated an RBI in the opener for St. Joseph's.
• Bears finished with five stolen bases in the opener.
• There were six home runs on the day, four coming off the bat of Mendez and two off Maritime bats.

THE BEAR FACTS

• The Mendez grand slam is the sixth in school history and is the first since 2010.
• The three homers by Mendez in the opener ties the single-game mark set by Kevin Diaz and Joe Harten in 2010.
• St. Joseph's has now hit 10 home runs in 16 games at Maritime all-time.
• The save by Luebcke in game two is the fourth in school history.
• The Bears improve to 6-11 all-time against the Privateers and sweep the season series for the first time ever.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS - BARUCH

The doubleheader scheduled for tomorrow against Vaughn at MCU Park has been postponed and will now be played on Friday, April 18th at 12 p.m. The Bears will now return to action on Thursday, April 3rd, hosting Baruch at MCU Park for a 4 p.m. first pitch. Live stats for that game can be found at http://sjcbears.com/livestats.