Cutrone Drives in 100th Run as Baseball Wraps Up Regular Season Defeating Yeshiva for Sixth Straight Win

TEANECK, N.J. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team got on the board early with four first-inning runs and closed the game with an offensive flurry as they defeated future Skyline foe Yeshiva, 13-8, in their regular season finale Thursday night at Votee Park.

The Bears (21-16) closed out the 2015 campaign by extending their season-high winning streak to six games, and nine of their last 10 matchups.

Senior Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) connected on three hits, including a leadoff home run in the first inning, to extend his team-best hitting streak to 21 games. The senior also added four runs scored, two stolen bases and a run batted in.

Second baseman Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) drove in three runs to become the fourth Bear to ever reach the 100-RBI milestone, and launched a solo homer in the first his third of the season.

Brian Luebcke (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) also plated three runs batted in, all on a three-run double in the eighth, and knocked three hits on the evening. Sophomore Anthony Amatuzzi (Staten Island, N.Y/Xaverian) pitched 1.2 perfect innings with two strikeouts in relief to earn his first win on the season.

The Maccabees (2-23) were Shmuli Goldis, who had two runs batted, while Benjamin Barman had two runs scored and an RBI in a losing effort. Josh Gerin added two runs scored, while Samuel Rhodes and Jacob Isaac meir each drove in a run.

St. Joseph's did not waste anytime getting on the board, with McKenna's leadoff homer to left-center. Cutrone followed two at-bats later with a solo shot of his own, then got two more runs on RBI singles by Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) and Domenick Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y/Monsignor Farrell) to extend to a 4-0 lead.

Cutrone, in his next at-bat, drove in McKenna on a double down the left-field line in the third to increase the advantage to five runs. Yeshiva would cut the deficit in the bottom of the third when two runs would score during a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt. A Goldis sac fly scored a third run in the inning, but Amatuzzi would come in and get out of further trouble in the frame.

The next half-inning saw the Bears add another run on Cutrone's run-scoring ground out to short. They added another run on a Michael Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) sacrifice bunt in the top of the sixth.

The Maccabees fought back with a three-run bottom of the sixth with a Rhodes RBI fielder's choice and a throwing error scored on another run on the play. Barman would follow with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 7-6. With the bases loaded in the inning, Thomas Decapua (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) struck out Joseph Miller swinging to escape the threat of more runs. 

In the top of the eighth, St. Joseph's would load the bases and M. Camerada would drive in a run on a bases-loaded walk. Luebcke would put some distance on the scoreboard with a bases-clearing double down the line in left field for a four-run inning.

After a Goldis RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, the Bears would add two more runs on Connor Pasetti (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) scoring on a wild pitch and an Anthony Inserillo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) sacrifice fly to put the game out of reach. 

Up next for the Bears is their first round matchup in the USCAA National Championships as the No. 9 seed against No. 8 Penn St. Beaver on Wednesday, May 13th in Hampton, Virginia. First pitch is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Live stats will be available at SJCBears.com.