Brigando Tosses Complete-Game Shutout as Baseball Turns Back No. 9 Penn State Beaver in USCAA First Round

HAMPTON, Va. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team got a shutout gem from Mitch Brigando (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) as they defeated No. 8 Penn State Beaver in the USCAA Small College World Series opening round Wednesday morning at War Memorial Stadium.

The No. 9-seeded Bears (22-16) have now won seven straight and 10 of their 11 games in their third straight appearance in the tournament.

Brigando spun a complete-game shutout, allowing just five hits and striking out seven batters to improve his team-best record to 8-1. Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to break the scoreless tie in the sixth, while Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) plated a run of his own.

Senior Thomas McKenna (Bellrose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) scored a run and connected on a hit to improve his school-record hitting streak to 22 games. Michael Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) added two hits, a stolen base and a run scored in the victory.

Derek Bozic and Tyler Thellman had two hits apiece for the Lions (19-17), while starter Jake Debo allowed three runs over seven innings to take the loss.

Both team had missed opportunities to put runs on the board in the early innings. St. Joseph's had two runners in the second inning when they lined into a double play to end the half-inning. The next frame saw Penn State Beaver threaten with the bases loaded and one out. Brigando responded with two straight strikeouts to end the threat with no runs in.

The Bears led off the fourth with two straight hits but could not piece together a run, as the game remained scoreless. In the bottom half, the Lions got the potential go-ahead run to third with two outs, but Brigando escaped with another strikeout. They threatened again with runners on first and second the next inning but ended the inning with nothing to show for it.

In the sixth, M. Camerada led off with a base hit then Cutrone moved him to second on a groundout to the right side. Following a Brian Luebcke (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy)walk and a fielder's choice that put runners on second and third, LoPrinzi lifted a sacrifice fly to right to break the scoreless tie. Luebcke would come home on a wild pitch to move the advantage to 2-0. 

Cutrone would come through with a run-scoring single in the seventh to put the Bears up for good. Brigando retired The Lions in order in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win.

St. Joseph's will now face top-seeded Illinois Tech in the next round of the USCAA National Championships. First pitch is Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at SJCBears.com.