Baseball Goes South for the USCAA Nationals in Virginia; Takes On Penn State Beaver in First Round Wednesday

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Winners of their last six games and nine out of 10, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team heads south to Hampton, Virginia for their third straight trip to the USCAA National Championships.

The No. 9 Bears will take on No. 8 seed Penn State Beaver Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. The winner takes on the top-ranked Illinois Tech at 4:00 p.m the same day.

Game Information

Opponent: Penn State Beaver (19-16)
Date: Wednesday, May 13th 





Time: 8:30 a.m.




Field: Hampton, Va. | War Memorial Stadium
Coverage: Live Stats | Video

If win

Opponent: Illinois Tech (21-9) 
Date: Wednesday, May 13th 





Time: 4:00 p.m.




Field: Hampton, Va. | War Memorial Stadium

Team Links

St. Joseph's (Bklyn): Roster | Schedule | Statistics 

| NCAA Ranking Summary
Penn State Beaver: Roster | Schedule | Statistics 

Illinois Tech: Roster | Schedule | Statistics

Quick Hits

• The Bears (21-16) finished this season with their fourth straight winning season, reaching the 20-win mark for the third consecutive year.
• This is the third straight USCAA appearance for St. Joseph's, last grabbing an opening-round victory in the USCAA Small College World Series last season against Penn State-Greater Allegheny, their first postseason win in program history.
• St. Joseph's is led by senior outfielder Thomas McKenna, who is hitting a team-high .406 and has closed the season on a school-record 21-game hitting streak.
• On the mound, Mitch Brigando leads the Bears with a team-best 7-1 record with a 2.82 earned run average over 44.2 innings pitched.
• Beaver enters the tournament winners of five of their last seven games, last dropping a matchup against Penn State Greater Allegheny in the PSUAC Championships.
• Penn State Beaver is led on the offensive end by Blaise McCarthy who is eighth in the USCAA with a blistering .447 batting average (51-for-114).
• The Scarlet Hawks come into the USCAA as the top-ranked team, going 21-9. They are a force at the plate, ranked forth in the Association with a .331 team batting average and third with 17 home runs.
• Brian Colon-Rodriguez leads the way with a batting average of .464, which is good for fourth in the USCAA with six home runs (fourth) and 43 RBI (sixth).

All-Time Series

This is the first-ever matchup between the Bears and Penn State Beaver, and would be the first time they would face Illinois Tech.

The Bear Facts

Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) leads the Bears with a batting average of .406 along with team-highs six home runs, 36 runs, 29 RBI and 14 stolen bases. The senior outfielder continues to extend the new Bears record with his 21-game hitting streak, breaking a record that has stood since 2008.

Senior Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) has tallied 24 runs batted in as well as ranked second on the team with both 27 runs and a .363 batting average. He has tallied 11 runs batted in over the Bears' six-game winning streak, including three in their last win over Yeshiva to become just the fourth Bear to reach the 100-RBI milestone.

Brian Luebcke (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) has been on a tear at the plate and is currently on a 12-game hitting streak. During the streak, he has totaled 21 hits, 14 RBI and 14 runs scored.

Sophomore Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) has 22 RBI to go with a .314 average, while Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) has a .308 batting average on the season, and has added 16 runs scored and 16 runs batted in.

Mitch Brigando (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) leads the team with a 7-1 record along with a 2.82 ERA and 32 strikeouts over 44.2 innings. He is coming off a scoreless outing in the Bears' last win against Cairn, striking out six batters over five innings pitched.

Cutrone, the team's all-time leader in strikeouts, has a team-best 41 strikeouts on the season. He is the winner of his last two starts on the pitcher's mound.

Bears Last Time Out vs. Yeshiva

The Bears (21-16) closed out the 2015 regular season campaign by extending their season-high winning streak to six games with a 13-8 victory over Yeshiva Thursday night at Votee Park.

Thomas McKenna 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 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 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 pitched 1.2 perfect innings with two strikeouts in relief to earn his first win on the season.

Penn State Beaver Facts

Penn State Beaver is led on the offensive end by Blaise McCarthy who is eighth in the USCAA with a blistering .447 batting average (51-for-114) with 35 runs scored and a team-best 15 stolen bases. Jake Debo tops the team with four homers and 31 runs batted in to along with a .303 average at the plate, while Derek Bozik hits .317 with 23 RBI.

On the mound, Nick Casasanta has an unblemished 5-0 record with a 2.87 ERA and a team-best 34 strikeouts. Debo has three wins and 26 strikeouts over 47.2 innings pitched, a team high.

Penn State Beaver Last Time Out vs. Penn State Greater Allegheny

In their last game played, Penn State Beaver dropped a matchup against division rival and USCAA No. 2-seed Penn State Greater Allegheny, 9-4 in the PSUAC Championships on May 1st in Mount Alto.

Jordan Price and Tyler Thellman each drove in a run on RBI doubles in a losing effort, while Shawn Shaner added a run batted in of his own.

The Hawks' Nest

The top-seeded Illinois Tech is led at the dish by junior catcher Brian Colon-Rodriguez, who leads the way with a batting average of .464 (51-for-110), which is good for fourth in the USCAA, along with six home runs (fourth) and 43 RBI (sixth). He tops the seven Scarlet Hawks with a batting average of .300 or better.

Junior infielder Austin Boos averages .426 (49-for-115) with 49 hits and 24 runs batted in, while senior Michael Malfeo adds 38 RBI and five homers with a .413 batting average (43-for-108).

Illinois Tech has three pitchers tied for first with four wins on the season. Kyle Bumpass (4-1) has two complete games and a 3.38 ERA over 37.1 innings, while James Tarala (4-2) notched two complete game wins. Malfeo has tallied four saves and 11 strikeouts, allowing just two earned runs over 10.0 innings of relief (1.80 ERA) 

Illinois Tech Last Time Out vs. University of Chicago

In their last matchup, the Scarlet Hawks dropped a doubleheader against the University of Chicago, 11-3 in game one and 10-6 in game two, on May 2nd at J. Kyle Anderson Field.

Michael Malfeo tallied three doubles in the twin bill with two runs scored and a run batted in. Brian Colon-Rodriguez added two RBI in a losing effort, while Austin Boos had three hits, a run batted in and two runs scored.