Baseball Salvages Split With Lehman in Walk-off Fashion

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team needed late game heroics to salvage a split with Lehman College on Senior Day Sunday afternoon at MCU Park, earning a 10-9 walk-off win in the nightcap after dropping a 2-0 decision in the opener.

St. Joseph's (24-9) saw their school-record 12-game winning streak come to an end with the game one loss but have won 14 of their last 16, while the Lightning (6-19) snapped a two-game losing streak with the victory in the opener.

In the opener, Bears starter junior Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees HS) and Lightning starter Stephen Smith went toe-to-toe for the first three innings, putting up zeroes in each frame with Cutrone retiring Lehman in order each inning. The Bears recorded a pair of walks in the third with runners getting to second and third but were unable to get a run across.

The Lightning broke through with the game's first run in the top of the fourth on an RBI single to left center by Tom Liang to give Lehman a 1-0 lead. St. Joseph's continued to struggle at the plate and the Lightning would tack on an insurance run on a Kevin Hernandez RBI single to go up 2-0.

Two Lehman pitchers would come in relief of Smith and toss up zeroes of their own and keep the Bears out of the hit column until the bottom of the seventh when junior Domenick Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) recorded a hit to third with two outs on a 1-2 count to break up the no-hit bid. The success would be short lived as the Lightning induced a groundout to end the game.

Cutrone went the distance for the fourth consecutive time and scattered three hits with four strikeouts, but was not helped by a sluggish game at the plate by the Bears.

The nightcap saw a high-scoring affair as St. Joseph's jumped out to a 6-0 lead after one, helped by two-RBI singles from freshmen Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and Michael Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) and RBI singles off the bats of senior Mike Cundari (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) and freshman Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside).

The Bears looked to have everything under control as St. Joseph's starter senior Donny Pagano (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) tossed four scoreless innings out of the gate and was staked to a 7-0 lead after four. However, Lehman struck with six runs in the fifth on six hits to make it a ball game at 7-6.

The Bears tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth and it seemed like St. Joseph's had staved off the Lightning momentum. That would not be the case as Lehman came through with three runs in the top of the seventh on four hits to tie the game at 9-9, making way for some Bears late game magic.

After the Lightning got a strikeout for the Bears first out of the seventh, Domenick Camerada walked on six pitchers before freshman Anthony DeFillippo (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian HS) pinch ran and stole second to get the winning run in scoring position. Rapp followed with a four-pitch walk and Michael Camerada followed with a hard-hit ball to short that the shortstop threw to second to get Rapp, but the Lehman second baseman would lose control of the ball as we was trying to make the transfer to get Camerada at first and DeFillippo would come around to score as the second baseman's throw to the plate was not in time.

After Pagano pitched the first 4 1/3 innings, freshman Connor Pasetti (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) came in for the final 2 2/3 innings and blew the save in the seventh, but finished the game to pick up his first collegiate win.

Michael Camerada led the Bears on the day, going 2-for-4 with a triple, three RBI and a run scored in game two. Rapp ended the day 2-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, while junior Vinny Rossi (Bayside, N.Y./Holy Cross) concluded the afternoon 2-for-3 with an RBI in game two. Junior Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) went 2-for-6 with a pair of runs scored. Cundari and fellow senior Joe Mendez (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) each ended up 1-for-6 with a run scored with Cundari driving in a run.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORES

• Other Contributors: LoPrinzi (1-for-7, 2 RBI, R) Domenick Camerada (1-for-3, R)
• After recording the lone hit in the opener, the Bears offense broke out for 11 hits in the nightcap, while Lehman tallied 12 hits in the second game.
• Lehman committed two errors in the second game that allowed a pair of runs to score and one in the opener, while the Bears made one miscue in the first game.

THE BEAR FACTS

• The Bears are now 8-6 all-time against the Lightning and win the season series 3-1.
• Cutrone had his school-record of 29 games reaching base safely snapped with an 0-for-3 game in the opener. The right-hander is now 6-2 on the year after winning his last six starts.
• Rossi is now one hit shy of 100 for his career.
• Cundari is one RBI shy of 100 for his career.
• LoPrinzi had his team-season-long hitting streak of 10 games snapped in game one.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS – PENN STATE- ABINGTON

The Bears conclude their home slate with a matchup against Penn State-Abington at MCU Park on Wednesday, April 30th at 4 p.m.