Baseball Endures Pair of Narrow Losses at Wesley

DOVER, Del. — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team (0-3) continued their season-opening trip to the Mid-Atlantic facing Wesley College in a Sunday afternoon doubleheader from Bob Reed Field in Dover, Delaware.

Game one was a high-scoring affair that saw 22 total runs scored as the Bears fell, 12-10, despite RBI from seven different players. The day's second contest was also closely contested as SJC took an early lead but couldn't hang on for a 3-1 defeat.

Game 1: Wesley 12, St. Joseph's 10
The tone of this one was set in the first inning as the Bears plated a pair of runs in their opening at-bat behind two walks, two Wesley errors, and a single from senior William DeLuca (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream Central). However, the Wolverines (4-9) answered in the bottom half as a pair of walks were followed by a double-steal setting up runners at second and third with no outs.

A run-scoring groundout and SJC error followed to tie the score at two, but Wesley kept rolling with a Jacob Meisel double setting up a fielder's choice RBI for a 3-2 edge after one. Each side then scored a single run in the second to maintain the hosts' one-run lead.

However, the Bears erupted for three tallies in the third as rookie Anthony Raneri (Staten Island, N.Y./Xavier) launched a two-out RBI double and classmate Lucas Collet (Toulouse, France/Lyc'ee Bellevue) followed with a two-run single to left for a 6-4 lead while Andrew Genovese (Woodmere, N.Y./George W. Hewlett) held Wesley scoreless in the bottom half to hold the two-run bump after three full.

Wesley responded in the fourth, tying the score once again after back-to-back two-out, run-scoring singles off the bats of John Joines and Jordan Marucci. They carried the momentum into the bottom of the fifth as a hit batsman was followed by back-to-back base-knocks to load the bases. Then, two passed balls yielded two runs for the hosts and two-straight doubles highlighted a six-run frame for a 12-6 lead entering the final two innings.

SJC rallied in the top of the seventh, though, as DeLuca led off with a single and later scored via error while Nicholas Hernandez (Parkland, Fla./St. John Paul II Academy) drove in a run with a groundout cutting the deficit to four. Another Wolverine miscue gave the Bears two more late runs, but they came up just short in the day's first contest.

Game 2: Wesley 3, St. Joseph's 1
The Bears squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the top of the first as neither side scored a run in the opening frame. SJC made up for it in the second, however, opening the scoring as Raneri led off with a walk and was later driven home on a Chris Leary (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park Memorial) infield single.

Junior righthander C.J. Bunnicelli (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) held the Wolverines scoreless for the first two innings, but they responded in the bottom of the third after a single, walk, and sacrifice groundout led to a pair of runners in scoring position with just one out. Joines stepped up next and tied the game at one with a sac fly, but Bunnicelli escaped the jam leaving the score 1-1 after three full.

St. Joseph's offense slowed, but the hosts kept clawing as they juiced the bases in the fourth and plated a run on a run-scoring groundout, but Bunnicelli once again limited them to just one as the Bears trailed 2-1 entering the fifth.

Wesley notched another single tally in their half of the fifth for a 3-1 cushion, but the Bears only mustered one hit over the final three innings suffering another two-run loss as they'll seek their first win of 2020 on next week's trip to the Sunshine State.

For the Bears

• DeLuca went 2-3 with two runs scored in game one while knocking one of the Bears four hits in game two.
• Sophomore Chris Zinser (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) was 1-4 with two RBI in the opener and went 1-3 in the nightcap.
• Collet drove in three runs in the first outing going 2-3 with a run scored and a double.
• Raneri scored three times in the opener adding a double and RBI.
• Graduate Matt Rienzi (Maspeth, N.Y./Xavier) kept Wesley scoreless at the tail-end of game one tossing 1.2 innings giving up just two hits and no runs while striking out one.
• Bunnicelli put together a solid start in the latter game going five innings allowing just three runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts.
• Freshman Connor Henson (Escondido, Calif./San Pasqual) scored twice and drove in a run in the opener while making his collegiate pitching debut with a scoreless inning of work fanning two.

Next Up
The Bears head to Fort Myers, Florida, to participate in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic beginning on Friday (Mar. 13) with a single game against 2019 College World Series semifinalist Johns Hopkins at 3 p.m.