Baseball Gameday: Bears at Cairn

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – St. Joseph's (14-8) heads to Pennsylvania to take on Cairn University (4-24) at 3:30 p.m., looking to extend winning streak to four games.

Game Information

St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) (14-8) at Cairn University (4-24, 1-14 CSAC)

Monday, April 14th • 3:30 p.m.
Langhorne, Pa.

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Storylines

• St. Joseph's looks to extend their winning streak to a season-high-tying four games and move a season-high seven games over .500.
• The Bears try to continue their strong start in true road games, coming in at 6-1 in road contests.  
• With a win, St. Joseph's would improve to 6-2 in the month of April after going 8-2 in March.
• Cairn looks to build their first winning streak of the season with a win.
• The Bears try to improve to 2-0 all-time against the Highlanders, having taken the schools' previous meeting on March 27th of last year.

Series History

St. Joseph's maintains a 1-0 edge in the all-time series, having won the lone previous meeting, 9-7, on March 27, 2013.

The Bear Facts

Last Time Out: St. Joseph's swept John Jay on Sunday, defeating the Bloodhounds 13-2 in the opener and 9-1 in game two. 

St. Joseph's has found its groove, winning 13 of their last 17 games since returning from Florida as they look to secure their second consecutive berth in the USCAA Small College World Series, coming in ranked No. 7 in the latest coaches' poll. The Bears have used an offense that hits .291 on the season and averages 6.6 runs per game to put themselves in a good spot in the USCAA race.

One-time D3baseball.com Team of the Week selection and USCAA and AD3I Player of the Week Joe Mendez continues to supply the power in the St. Joseph's lineup with a team-high seven long balls and 34 RBI. The senior is also batting .348 (24-for-69) on the year with 20 runs scored and has an impressive .768 slugging percentage.

Freshman Nicholas LoPrinzi leads the Bears with a .357 batting average, while contributing 13 RBI and ten runs. Senior Mike Cundari is batting .338 on the year and leads the team with 21 runs scored and has driven in 10 runs.

Junior Thomas McKenna gives St. Joseph's a top of the order presence with his .324 average and 20 runs. The outfielder is also second on the team with 13 RBI and paces the team with two triples.

Chris Cutrone became the seventh Bear to reach 100 career hits with a 3-for-3 game two versus John Jay. The junior is hitting a team-high-tying .357 on the season and leads the team with a .500 on base percentage. Cutrone also has made a living on the mound this season going 5-1 with an impressive 3.09 ERA in a team-high 43 2/3 innings. Sophomore Rosario DiLorenzo brings in a 4-1 record on the mound and a 3.94 ERA in five starts.

The Lay of the Land

Last Time Out: Cairn fell in game one to CSAC foe Marywood, 17-0, before taking the nightcap 10-5 on Sunday.

After starting the season 2-3, the Highlanders' season has gone downhill as they have dropped 21 of their last 23 games, and sit in the basement of the Colonial States Athletic Conference.  Cairn sits at the bottom in many statistical categories, including batting average (.250), ERA (9.77), slugging percentage (.311) and on base percentage (.347)

Caleb Lang provides the ammunition in the Highlanders lineup, batting a team-high .418 on the year with a team-high two homers, 25 RBI and 23 runs scored. Also adding punch to the lineup is Kenny Searle who bats .333 with 17 RBI and 12 runs.

Leading Cairn on the bump is Tyson Rohrs who is 2-3 on the hill in five starts with a 9.18 ERA in 33 1/3 innings.  

TEAM COMPARISON

Bears	Nickname	Highlanders
14-8	Record	4-24 (1-14)
HVIAC	Conference	CSAC
Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Team Info	Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Nicholas LoPrinzi & Chris Cutrone (.357)	Top Avg.	Caleb Lang (.418)
Joe Mendez (34)	Top RBI	Caleb Lang (25)
Chris Cutrone (27)	Top K	3 tied at... (22)
.291	Bat. Avg.	.256
.384	Slugging	.314
.384	OBP	.353
145	Runs	122
185	Hits	199
120	RBI	103
34	SB	17
4.22	ERA	9.87
.271	Opp. Avg.	.322
105/89	K/BB	114/155
.979	Field %	.909