Illinois Tech Escapes Baseball's Upset Bid at USCAA Small College World Series

HAMPTON, Va.—The ninth-seeded St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team nearly produced the upset of the 2015 United States Collegiate Athletic Association Small College World Series taking a 4-2 lead over top-seeded Illinois Tech before falling 5-4 in extra innings in a winners bracket quarterfinal at the War Memorial Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The Bears (22-17) suffer their first loss in eight games and will fall to the losers bracket of the 10-team, double-elimination tournament and will play at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow with their opponent to be announced.

The Hawks (22-9) took an early lead posting a pair of runs in the bottom of the first before the Bears exploded for four runs in the top of the fourth after held hitless the first time through the lineup.

Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) set the table with a leadoff single, extending his hitting streak to a Bears-record 23 games, and gained runners on second and third after an error and sacrifice. Brian Luebcke (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) then laced a double to tie the game at two-all. Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) gave the Bears their first lead with a single that delivered Luebcke and scored later on a Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) grounder that put St. Joseph's up 4-2 on the top seed.

But Illinois Tech would cut the deficit in half in the home half of the frame on an Austin Boos sacrifice fly and would knot the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth with a triple. Boos led the Hawks at the plate finishing 2-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBI.

With the game still deadlocked in the first extra inning and the Hawks moving a runner to scoring position at second, the Bears nearly got out of the inning with Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) inducing a two-out grounder, but a miscue on the long throw across the diamond allowed the winning run to trot home.

Cutrone went the distance on the mound and took the loss, surrendering nine hits and four runs, striking out three and walking three.

St. Joseph's will await either No. 4 Rochester College, No. 5 Apprentice School or No. 8 Penn State Beaver in the losers bracket tomorrow afternoon. Links to video and live stats can be found at SJCBears.com