Watters Goes the Distance, Palermo Drives In a Pair To Lift Baseball to Skyline Split With Farmingdale

YAPHANK, N.Y. —  It was a good Friday for the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team as they split a pair of one-run decisions with Farmingdale State College to notch their first win of the season and the first collegiate victory for head coach Peter Blumenauer. 

Sophomore Andrew Watters (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) held Farmingdale to just one run in a complete-game effort on the mound and junior Anthony Palermo (Patchogue, N.Y./Sachem North) went 3-for-3 driving in both Bears runs for a 2-1 triumph in game two. SJC raced out to a 7-0 lead in the opener, but couldn't hold off the charging Rams, falling 9-8 in game one.

The Basics

• Final Scores: Farmingdale State 9, St. Joseph's 8; St. Joseph's 2, Farmingdale State 1
• Records: St. Joseph's (1-15, 1-3), Farmingdale State (11-6, 3-1)
• Location: Yaphank, N.Y. — Baseball Heaven #2

Game 1: Farmingdale 9, St. Joseph's 8

• The Bears raced out to a big lead erupting for seven runs on seven hits in the first. After loading the bases with no outs, Michael Gonzalez (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) opened the scoring with a two-run single to right. William DeLuca (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream Central) and J.J. McLaughlin (Elmont, N.Y./Sewanhaka) followed with an RBI singles and later in the frame with two outs, Kyle McLaughlin (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) later delivered a two-out, two-run single up the middle and Adam Schwartz (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan E. Wagner) scored him with a double to the wall.
• The Rams got four runs back in their second at bat knocking three hits in the frame and aided by a Bear miscue that allowed two to score unearned, but a Justus Acosta (Little Neck, N.Y./Holy Cross) sacrifice fly in the bottom half put the Bears up 8-4 after two.
• Farmingdale pushed across solo runs in the fourth and fifth to cut the deficit in half and knotted up the game at 8-8 in the sixth off RBI singles from Ernie Geraci and Shawn Blasberg.
• After two scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth, the Rams had their first three batters reach on a pair of walks wrapped around a single to load the bases and pushed across the go-ahead run on a one-out Kenneth Johntry sacrifice fly and the heart of the Bears couldn't get anything going in the bottom going down in order.

Game 2: St. Joseph's 2, Farmingdale 1

• After a high-scoring affair in the opener, both pitchers made quick work of the first two innings, before the Bears manufactured a run with a two-out rally in the third. Schwarz knocked an opposite field single followed by a Ram miscue that put two Bears in scoring position for Palermo who took the first pitch he saw through the left side to score Schwartz for the early 1-0 lead.
• The visitors knotted the game up in the top of the fifth on a Jake Jacobs single with runners at the corners and two outs, but the Bears quickly responded with one in their subsequent at bat. Schwartz belted a one-out single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third, scoring on a Palermo two-out single, taking the first pitch he saw again to left.
• The Rams threatened with back-to-back one-out singles in the seventh to gain runners at first and second, but the defense held up and the game ended with catcher DeLuca gunning down the runner trying to advance to third on a pitch in the turf.

For the Bears

• Andrew Watters tossed his first complete game of his collegiate career, scattering eight hits over seven innings, striking out three and walking one.
• Anthony Palermo finished 6-for-7 on the day driving in two runs and scoring twice.
• Adam Schwartz went 5-for-8 over the twin-bill, accumulating three runs, one RBI and a double.
• Michael Gonzalez (2-for-5) and Kyle McLaughlin (2-for-4) both had multi-hit efforts in the opener with two RBI and a run scored.
• J.J. McLaughlin also finished with a pair of hits with a RBI and run scored in game one.

Next Up for the Bears - Schedule Change

• SJC will host SUNY Polytechnic Institute tomorrow (Mar. 31). The non-conference doubleheader has been relocated to Shore Road Park in Brooklyn and will now be a 2:30 p.m. start. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com.