Bears Baseball Levels Record with Sweep of NYU-Poly

BROOKLYN, NY – On a cold and windy February day, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team saw their first action of the season up north and leveled their record, sweeping Polytechnic Institute of NYU, 14-8 and 15-8, on Saturday afternoon at Floyd Bennett Field.

St. Joseph's (3-3) was led offensively by freshman Rob Mongiori (Jackson Heights, NY/Monsignor McClancy) who went 5-for-8 at the plate with four RBI, four runs scored a double and a triple.  Fellow freshman Vinny Rossi (Bayside, NY/Holy Cross) finished the twinbill going 3-for-7 with five RBI, four runs scored and a triple.  Sophomore Mike Cundari (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) went 4-for-9 with an RBI, five runs scored and a triple.

On the mound, the Bears received complete game victories from junior Paul Piccirillo (Brooklyn, NY/Xavierian) in game one and sophomore Donny Pagano (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) in game two.

After getting on the board first with with a single run in the first frame, the Bears needed to play catch-up as NYU-Poly responded with a five run second inning, but only one run earned for Piccirillo with the Bears committing two errors in the inning.

The Bears took the lead back with a five-run fourth inning taking advantage of three Blue Jays miscues. Rossi knotted the game at five with a two-run triple and put the Bears up 6-5, scoring on a Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, NY/St. Francis Prep) sacrifice fly.

St. Joseph's kept their foot on the gas, tacking on six runs in their next at bat, the Bears rapping out four hits with Cundari and Jeff Bonowicz (Whitestone, NY/Holy Cross) delivering RBI singles and Rossi driving in his fourth run with a two-RBI single. 

A seven-run cushion was more than enough for Piccirillo (2-0) who finished with eight strikeouts and allowed only seven hits in the third complete-game victory of his career.

In game two, NYU-Poly struck first with Cesar Murillas scoring the lone run after knocking a triple.  But the Bears came right back in the top of the second, posting another big inning, scoring five runs on four hits and three errors and stayed on top for the remainder of the contest.  Cundari led off the frame with a single, Mongiori and Rossi delivered RBI singles and later scored. Chris Cutrone (Levittown, NY/Island Trees, HS) and Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) each later drove in a run on a ground out and double, respectively.

NYU-Poly pulled within one run with a three-run third, with the Blue Jays reaching Pagano for three doubles in the frame.  The Bears gave Pagano some cushion plating three runs in the fourth on only one hit as the Blue Jays committed four errors in the frame.  The Blue Jays struggled defensively on the afternoon committing 10 errors in the nightcap and 16 for the afternoon.

St. Joseph's added three more runs in the sixth on a Joseph Mendez (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) sacrifice fly and a Ellis two-RBI single. The Bears plated four more in the final inning on a two-RBI single by Mendez -- extending his hitting streak to five games -- and a two-RBI double from Mongiori two batters later and St. Joseph's had a comfortable 15-5 lead with NYU-Poly having three outs left. 

The Blue Jays got their first three batters on to load the bases and all scored on a pair of sacrifice flies and a double, but it would be too little too late as Pagano forced a popup in the infield for the final out.  Pagano (1-1) finished with six strikeouts and scattered 12 hits for his first win of the season.

St. Joseph's returns to the diamond on Saturday, March 3 for a doubleheader against Mount Saint Vincent at Van Cortlandt Park starting at 12 p.m.