Cutrone Joins 100-Hit Club, Mendez Joins 100-Run Club Powering Baseball Sweep of John Jay

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) had a 3-for-4 day at the plate to join the coveted century hit club and Joe Mendez (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) blasted two homers and scored four times to score his 100th career run powering the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of John Jay College, 13-2 and 9-1, on Sunday afternoon at James Madison High School.

The Bears (14-8) sweep the season series with the Bloodhounds (3-18) and improve to a season best six games over .500 and open a busy stretch of nine games in seven days.

Cutrone becomes the seventh Bear to knock 100 career hits, achieving the mark in 89 games. Mendez is the fourth Bear to score 100 runs and his two jacks ties the single season record for home runs with seven.

Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and Mike Cundari (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) both collected three hits on the afternoon. LoPrinzi with three RBI, two doubles and two runs scored. Cundari with three runs scored, a RBI, two walks and two stolen bases.

The Bears never trailed over the twinbill and jumped out to early leads in both contests. In the opener, a Cundari RBI single started the scoring, later scoring on a passed ball to cap a two-run first inning.

St. Joseph's broke the game open in the third sending 12 batters to the plate with a seven-run frame highlighted by a Vinny Rossi (Bayside, N.Y./Holy Cross) two-RBI single with the bases loaded.

In the fifth, Mendez legged out an inside-the-park, two-run home run that put the Bears up 11-1 before St. Joseph's tacked on two unearned runs in the sixth to build a 13-1 lead.

Mitch Brigando (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) improved to 2-1 on the mound, tossing five innings, allowing one run on five hits and striking out five. Thomas Decapua (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) made his first appearance in over a year after undergoing season-ending surgery last season and had a strong showing, tossing a near perfect scoreless inning with one strikeout.

In game two, Cutrone's century mark single to leadoff the second began a three-run inning, later scoring on a Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) grounder. Michael Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) later roped an RBI double to the gap and Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) brought him home with a RBI single.

Mendez highlighted the third with a solo blast followed by back-to-back doubles by Cutrone and LoPrinzi that increased the Bears lead to 5-0. The Bears scored in every inning after that, adding two in the fourth and solo runs in the fifth and sixth.

Brian Luebcke (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) struck out seven and walked none, tossing six innings of shutout ball to improve to 2-1 on the mound.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORES

• Other contributors: Michael Camerada (2-for-5, 3 R, RBI, 2 2B), Vinny Rossi (2-for-7, 3 RBI, 2 R), Thomas Decapua (1 IP, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 H), Sean O'Melia (1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 K, 2 H).
• The Bloodhounds outhit the Bears in game two, 10-8, but Luebcke kept them off the board stranding runners in scoring position in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th innings.
• St. Joseph's went a perfect 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts on the afternoon. 

THE BEAR FACTS

• St. Joseph's improves to 12-3 in the all-time series vs. John Jay, winning the last 10 meetings.
• Chris Cutrone improved his reached base safely streak to 20 games. Francis Rapp's reached base safely streak ended at 12 games, tied for third longest on the team this season.
• Mike Cundari moved into a tie for second on the all-time runs scored list with 109, tying Joseph Boccia. He sits seven runs away from being the all-time leader.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS - CAIRN

St. Joseph's heads to Langhorne, Pa. to open a stretch of three straight road games in as many days, facing Cairn on Monday, April 14 at 3:30 p.m.