LoPrinzi Joins 100-RBI Club as Baseball Falls to Cairn in Slugfest

LANGHORNE, PA. — Senior Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) homered and belted three doubles to drive in six runs and become the fifth Bear to reach the 100-RBI mark, but the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team suffered 20-12 and 5-4 non-conference losses to Cairn University on Tuesday afternoon. Sophomore John Condon (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) also drove in three runs in the high-scoring opener and knocked three doubles in a 3-for-3 effort.

The Highlanders raced out to a 15-1 lead in the opener and never looked back. The Bears scored four unanswered in the finale to take a 4-3 lead on LoPrinzi's solo blast in the fifth, but Cairn plated two in the seventh to walk off with the sweep.

Game Info

• Final Score: Cairn 20, St. Joseph's 12 (Game 1) Cairn 5, St. Joseph's 4 (Game 2)
• Location: Farmingdale, N.Y.
• Field: FSC Baseball Field
• Records: St. Joseph's (9-10, 8-4), Farmingdale (14-11, 9-3)

Game 1: Cairn 20, St. Joseph's 12

• SJC Starters: Linitz (CF) Pasetti (LF) LoPrinzi (C) Condon (DH) Kennedy (1B) A. Camerada (RF) Arroyo (3B) Trudden (SS) Gonzalez (2B) Salvador (P)
• Cairn erupted for nine runs over the first two innings and took a 15-1 lead after three and the Bears could never close the gap. A John Condon two-out double in the third got SJC on the board.
• Back-to-back RBI doubles by Nicholas LoPrinzi and Condon highlighted a four-run fifth inning with Anthony Camerada also bringing Condon home with a two-out single. But the Bears couldn't cut into the deficit much as Cairn responded with three in the bottom half of the inning.
• Both squads posted up deuces in the sixth and the Bears pushed across five in the seventh to shrink the deficit to single digits.

Bears Highlights

• Seven of the Bears' 10 hits went for extra bases (all doubles).
• Nicholas LoPrinzi doubled in his final three at bats to finish 3-for-5 with five RBI and two runs scored.
• John Condon also knocked a trio of doubles and walked twice to compile a 3-for-3 line with a run scored.
• Kevin Linitz was 2-for-2 with pairs of RBI, runs scored, and stolen bases.
• Anthony Camerada batted 2-for-4 with a double, a RBI and a run scored.
• Matthew Rienzi worked the only scoreless frame on the mound in the fourth, allowing two hits and striking out one.

Game 2: Cairn 5, St. Joseph's 4

• SJC Starters: Linitz (CF) Pasetti (DH) LoPrinzi (1B) Condon (C) A. Camerada (RF) Schwartz (3B) Rehn (SS) Gonzalez (2B) DeFillippo (LF) Juliano (P)
• Unlike the opener that saw nine runs by the second inning, both pitchers worked scoreless first and second stanzas. Bears starter Vin Juliano worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second with one out, picking up the final two outs via strikeout.
• Cairn struck first posting three runs in the third on run-scoring doubles by Aaron Takacs and Daniel Morales.
• The Bears countered with three in their next at bat to level the game at 3-all. A two-run double by Michael Gonzalez followed by Anthony DeFillippo's double that scored Gonzalez highlighted the three-hit frame.
• Nicholas LoPrinzi homered to left center to lead off the fifth to give St. Joseph's their first lead of the series, 4-3, and they carried it to the final frame.
• Needing one to tie, Cairn quickly put the pressure on and drew a pair of walks and an intentional walk loaded the bases to set up the force play, but the Bears couldn't stop the Highlanders who scored the tying run on a wild pitch and the go-ahead run on a Morales single.

Bears Highlights

• Nicholas LoPrinzi went 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season (6th of his career) to pace the Bears at the dish.
• Michael Gonzalez (1-for-3) collected his first collegiate hit and RBI with a double in the fourth.
• Anthony DeFillippo (1-for-3) also doubled and drove in a run.
• Connor Pasetti finished 1-for-3, stealing one base and walking once.
• Vincent Juliano made his first collegiate start on the mound and made his longest appearance of six innings, striking out a season-high seven, but was plagued by 11 walks as Cairn scored five runs on five hits.

The Bear Facts 

• The seven Bear doubles in game one were one shy of tying the team record.
• LoPrinzi's and Condon's three doubles matched a Bears single-game record set five times previously (last Thomas Pallatto vs. CCNY on March 19, 2016).
• LoPrinzi's reached the 100-RBI mark in the opener in his 142nd game played and 478th at bat. With 102 RBI for his career, he needs just one more to tie Chris Cutrone '15 in fourth and five to tie Mike Cundari '14 in second.
• The teams combined for 32 runs and 27 hits in a three-hour marathon in the opener. Both teams had combined nine runs and 12 hits in the finale that was an hour shorter.
• Cairn wins their first games over the Bears and closes St. Joseph's lead to 3-2.
• The 20 runs scored by Cairn in the opener were the most allowed by the Bears since a 23-4 loss to now-Skyline rivals USMMA back in the 2011 season.

Next Up for St. Joseph's

The Bears continue a stretch of three straight days of action heading back across the river to the Garden State to face New Jersey City University tomorrow in a non-conference affair starting at 3:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on SJCBears.com