Baseball Opens Skyline Play at Merchant Marine

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — For their first action in six days due to the midweek snowstorm, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team took on the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for a lone road game on Saturday morning. The Bears' bats struggled to get going until it was too late and they suffered a 6-1 defeat despite a solid outing from sophomore right-hander Andrew Watters (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian).

The Basics

• Final Score: Merchant Marine 6, St. Joseph's 1
• Records: Merchant Marine (12-2, 1-0), St. Joseph's (0-12, 0-1)
• Location: New Rochelle, N.Y. — Flowers Park

How It Happened

• The Bears advanced a runner to third in the top of the second and USMMA pushed a man into scoring position in their half of the third, but neither side managed to score for the first three and a half frames.
• A leadoff single and subsequent Michael Barnes double to open the bottom of the fourth began the scoring, putting the Mariners up 1-0. Two batters later, Alex Mesaros singled Barnes home as the hosts led 2-0 after four innings.
• Merchant Marine maintained the momentum in the sixth scoring two on a steal of home and a Mesaros sac fly to extend their advantage to 4-0. They tacked on single tallies in the seventh and eighth as well, while an Adam Schwartz (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) triple followed by a USMMA error gave SJC their only run in the top of the eighth.

For the Bears

• Schwartz finished 1-for-4 with a triple and run scored, while sophomores William DeLuca (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream Central) (1-for-3, 2B) and Paul Pellegrino (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) (1-for-3) picked up the only other SJC hits.
• Watters went 4.2 innings allowing six hits and two runs while striking out three (zero walks). Junior J.J. McLaughlin (Elmont, N.Y./Sewanhaka) pitched 2.2 innings giving up an earned run and a walk.

Next Up for the Bears

• A road matchup at New Paltz on Wednesday (Mar. 28) at 4 p.m. with live stats available at SJCBears.com.