Baseball Walks Off With Wild Win Over CCNY, But Beavers Steal Split in Game Two

BELLEROSE, N.Y. — Junior Michael Camerada's (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) single in the bottom of the seventh sealed a come-from-behind, 10-9 victory over City College of New York in game one of their home opener on Saturday, but the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team couldn't pull off the same heroics in game two falling 8-7 with the tying and winning runs on the bases.

The Basics

• Final Score (Game 1): St. Joseph's 10, CCNY 9
• Final Score (Game 2): CCNY 8, St. Joseph's 7
• Records: St. Joseph's (5-5), CCNY (1-18)
• Date: March 19, 2016
• Location: Bellerose, N.Y.
• Field: Padavan-Preller Field
• SJC Starters Game 1: Pasetti (2B), DeFillippo (LF), Luebcke (3B), Condon (DH), LoPrinzi (C), Rapp (SS), Pallatto (1B), A. Camerada (RF), M. Camerada (CF), Brigando (P)
• SJC Starters Game 2: M. Camerada (CF), DeFillippo (LF), Luebcke (2B), Condon (C), LoPrinzi (DH), Rapp (SS), Pallatto (1B), Schwartz (3B), Camerada (RF), DiLorenzo (P)

How it Happened in Game 1

• Cleanup batter Adrian Pena opened scoring early for CCNY with a two-out, two-run blast in the top of the first.
• Anthony Camerada launched a solo homer, the first of his career, in the bottom half of the third inning to cut the deficit in half.
• In the next inning, Nicholas LoPrinzi homered with one man on to give St. Joseph's a 3-2 advantage, their first of the game.
• After being held scoreless by starter Mitch Brigando for three consecutive innings, CCNY reclaimed a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth following the fourth longball of the afternoon, this time a two-run shot off the bat of Michael Siklas.
• In the bottom half, Brian Luebcke laced a run scoring double to draw even at 4-all. Following John Condon's walk, LoPrinzi stepped up and emptied the bases for his second dinger of the game.
• Trailing 7-4 and three outs from defeat, CCNY exploded for five in the seventh to move ahead 9-7. The Beavers pounded four hits in the inning, highlighted by Rob Mandich's game tying two-RBI single.
• With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Francis Rapp singled and Thomas Pallatto doubled to put the tying men in scoring position. A dropped fly ball off the bat of Anthony Camerada plated the tying runs and allowed Camerada to advance to third as the winning run. Older brother Michael Camerada then singled down the right-field line to clinch the dramatic comeback.

How it Happened in Game 2

• The Bears drew first blood in the bottom of the first following John Condon's run scoring double. After tacking on two more in the third, Anthony DeFillippo's RBI-double in the fourth highlighted a four-hit, four-run rally as the lead ballooned to 7-0.
• Starter Rosario DiLorenzo held the Beavers scoreless for the first four innings before Uche Nwokelo broke the shutout with a solo homerun in the fifth frame.
• CCNY came alive for three more in a five-hit sixth inning, including run scoring singles from Rob Mandich and Elmy Antonio.
• Three outs from defeat in the seventh down 7-4, the Beavers rallied back again. An error and consecutive singles loaded the bases with one out, setting the stage for Adrian Pena's go-ahead grand slam, his second home run of the day.
• A single and an error put the tying and winning runs at first and second for St. Joseph's in the bottom half, but reliever Jeffrey Diaz recorded a strikeout for the final out to shut the door on another comeback.

For the Bears

• Thomas Pallatto led the Bears batting 4-for-8 over the twinbill, all doubles. The sophomore collected a career-best three hits in the opener.
• Michael Camerada (3-for-7), Nicholas LoPrinzi (3-for-7), Francis Rapp (3-for-8) and Brian Luebcke (3-for-8) collected three hits apiece. LoPrinzi recorded six RBI on the afternoon, including a career-high two home runs and career-high-tying five RBI in game one. Luebcke extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
• John Condon led St. Joseph's with three RBI in game two, finishing the day 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
• Starter Mitch Brigando collected the victory in game one to improve to 2-0. The junior fanned a career-high 11, allowing six earned runs in seven innings of work.
• Rosario DiLorenzo took the loss in game two and fell to 1-2, working the full seven and allowing seven earned runs while striking out five.

For the Beavers

• Adrian Pena collected five hits in seven trips in the twinbill. The shortstop led all players with two homers and seven RBI, including the go-ahead grand slam in game two.
• Michael Siklas hit 4-for-6 with one homerun and two RBI, while Uche Nwokelo finished 2-for-6 with one homer and three RBI.
• Anthony Cacchione hit 5-for-7, recording a pair of hits in game one and three in game two.
• Lorenzo Hiraldo suffered the loss in game one, allowing two earned runs in 1.2 innings of relief.
• Jeffrey Diaz picked up the win in the capper, tossing three scoreless innings in relief.

Inside the Box Scores

• Game one featured five lead changes, three coming from home runs that put their team on top.
• The sides combined for 16 extra-base-hits; seven home runs and nine doubles. Five homers were launched in game one, three by the Bears, matching a single-game record set six times previously. (Last on 3/29/2014 at Maritime).
• Nine of the Beavers' 17 runs in the doubleheader were scored in the seventh inning. Fifteen of their runs were scored in the fifth inning or later.

The Bear Facts

• The walk-off win in game one was the 10th in program history, but just the first time the team trailed heading into the bottom half of the frame.
• The game one win for SJC snapped a two-game skid to the Beavers, but CCNY's come-from-behind victory that was their first of the season gave them their third win in four meetings. St. Joseph's still leads the all-time series 9-6.
• Luebcke extended his hitting streak to 10, the only bear to hit successfully in every game this season. Francis Rapp is now working on an eight-game hitting streak, while Michael Camerada has assembled a seven-game streak and Thomas Pallatto has built a six-game streak.
• With the Bears season opening doubleheader at Warner ruled an exhibition by the NCAA, Nicholas LoPrinzi officially knocked his 100th career hit with a two-run blast in the top of the fourth inning in game one, reaching the mark in 89 games.

Next Up for St. Joseph's

The Bears will head back to New Jersey for the second time in as many weeks facing New Jersey City University (7-3) in a single-game non-conference affair on Wednesday, March 23 with first pitch slated for 3:30 p.m. Live stats and video courtesy of NJCU Sports Information will be available via SJCBears.com