Baseball Splits With Mount Saint Mary Setting Up Must-Win Game on Sunday

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — A five-run ninth inning propelled the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team to a 10-5 victory over Mount Saint Mary College in the opener of their Skyline Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, but the Knights rallied from a four-run deficit in game two to split the series leaving the Bears playoff hopes to a must-win game on Sunday in their regular season finale.

Senior Mitch Brigando (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) went the distance in game one to improve to 5-1 on the mound and collected his 19th career victory. With four hits on the day, sophomore John Condon (Oceanside, N.Y/Oceanside) extended his hitting streak to a team-best 11 games.

Game Info

• Final Score: St. Joseph's 10, Mount Saint Mary 5 (Game 1) Mount Saint Mary 7, St. Joseph's 5 (Game 2)
• Location: Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
• Field: McCann Baseball Field – Marist College
• Records: St. Joseph's (14-18, 9-8), Mount Saint Mary (12-24, 9-9)

Game 1: St. Joseph's 10, Mount Saint Mary 5

• SJC Starters: Linitz (CF), Pasetti (RF), LoPrinzi (C), Condon (1B), Rapp (SS), A. Camerada (DH), Schwartz (3B), Rehn (2B), M. Camerada (LF), Brigando (P)
• The Bears scored first and with a solo run in the first on a Nicholas LoPrinzi single and never trailed at any point in the contest.
• An Adam Schwartz two-out double in the fourth put the Bears up 2-0 before the Knights cut the deficit in half matching the run in the bottom half.
• The first three Bears reached successfully in the fifth to load the bases for LoPrinzi who struck again with a two-run single and a two-out RBI-single by Linitiz in the sixth pushed the Bears lead to 5-1.
• But the Knights would come back with four runs in the eighth, and the top of the lineup knocked four straight two-out hits to knot the game back up at 5-all.
• In the ninth, St. Joseph's batted around and scored five runs to take a stranglehold on the game. Francis Rapp drove in the game-winner for the second straight game and he was followed by RBI-singles by Anthony Camerada, Schwartz and Michael Camerada.

Bears Highlights

• Nicholas LoPrinzi was the top run producer with three RBI, finishing 2–for-4 with a run scored.
• Adam Schwartz led all Bears with three hits—two of them doubles—driving in a pair and scoring just as many.
• Michael Camerada also delivered two runs home and scored once.
• Francis Rapp knocked two hits, scored twice and had the game-winning RBI.
• John Condon built a 10-game hitting streak for the second time this season going 1-for-4 with a run.
• Mitch Brigando worked all nine innings, surrendering five runs on 10 hits, striking out three and walking none.

Game 2: Mount Saint Mary 7, St. Joseph's 5

• SJC Starters: Linitz (CF), Rehn (2B), LoPrinzi (DH), Condon (C), Rapp (SS), DeLuca (RF), Schwartz (3B), Pallatto (1B), M. Camerada (LF), Pasetti (P)
• St. Joseph's jumped ahead scoring in pairs in the first two innings to race out to a 4-0 lead.
• Francis Rapp opened the scoring with a two-out RBI single that brought home Linitz and Condon also scoring on a Knights' miscue.
• Michael Camerada knocked a double in the second that brought home Thomas Pallatto and Camerada later scored on a Nicholas LoPrinzi two-out single.
• The Knights used a two-out rally in the third highlighted by a Chris Introcaso two-run blast as the hosts cut the Bears lead to one, 4-3. The Mount jumped ahead in the fourth with two more runs that knocked Bears starter Connor Pasetti off the hill, trailing 5-4.
• St. Joseph's rapped three straight hits with one out in the fifth, Will DeLuca's single down the line, knotting the game up at 5-all.
• Mount Saint Mary pushed two runs across in the sixth off a John Santana double and the Bears couldn't match in the seventh going down in order.

Bears Highlights

• John Condon led all batters with three hits, finishing 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
• Francis Rapp knocked a pair of hits and drove in a run.
• William DeLuca, Nicholas LoPrinzi and Michael Camerada combined to drive in three runs and three hits each.
• Connor Pasetti struck out one to inch closer to the 100-strikeout mark. Working 3.1 innings, four of his five runs scored unearned in a no decision.
• Andrew Watters retired both batters he faced in relief, striking out one.
• Anthony Amatuzzi surrendered just one hit over two innings of work, but was stuck with the loss allowing two runs (one earned), striking out one and walking one.

The Bear Facts

• With Old Westbury sweeping the Mount Saint Vincent today, the Bears currently are tied with USMMA and Mount Saint Mary with nine wins. With two spots up for grabs in the Skyline Conference Championships, the Bears will need to win tomorrow's game against Maritime to earn a spot as USMMA and Mount Saint Mary both hold the tiebreaker over the Bears with a victory over SJC Long Island who clinched the regular season title earlier today.

Next Up for St. Joseph's

The Bears will wrap up the regular season tomorrow in a must-win game to make the playoffs. St. Joseph's will host Maritime College making up game two of a doubleheader that was rained out last week.

First pitch is slated for 12 p.m. at American Legion Field with live stats and video on SJCBears.com.