Piccirillo, Mendez Lead St. Joseph’s to Split in Home Opener

BELLEROSE, NY – St. Joseph's baseball kicked off their home schedule at Padavan-Preller Fields in Bellerose, NY with a doubleheader against SUNYIT.  Though the Bears dropped game one of the twinbill 13-3, Joe Mendez (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) brought the fireworks with his bat going 5-for-7 on the day with a double, triple, and a homerun and St. Joseph's took game two 7-3.

Game one started off on the right foot for the Bears as they jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Mendez's first hit of the afternoon, a two-RBI double to right-center to score Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, NY/St. Francis Prep) and Chris Cutrone (Levittown, NY/Island Trees HS) in the bottom of the first. 

Cutrone appeared to be in a nice rhythm early, retiring six of the first eight batters to face him.  But things quickly unraveled in the third as four walks turned into three runs, two of which coming on a two-out double from Joseph O'Rourke.

Mendez quickly struck again in the bottom half of the third, connecting on a solo home run to left field to tie the game.  The Bears offense stalled after that with Wildcat starter Patrick Baker allowing just two hits and no runs after the third en route to his first win of the season.

SUNYIT continued to pile on the runs, scoring in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to put the game away.  Sam Quinn-Loeb did most of the damage for the Wildcats going 2-for-4 with three runs and five RBI.  O'Rourke plated three himself while Chandler Evens chipped in with two RBI.

Paul Piccirillo (Brooklyn, NY/Xavierian) was the story in game two.  SUNYIT had the tables set early for a big opening inning with a single and a hit batter, but Piccirillo retired the next three, allowing just a run on a sacrifice fly.

McKenna single-handedly tied the game with his legs in the bottom of the first getting on base with a walk, advanced on a wild pitch, took third on a ground out and later scored on a wild pitch.  With two-outs in that same inning, Mendez tripled to right field and Mike Cundari (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) brought him home with a two-bagger of his own.

The Wildcats again were primed for a big inning, loading the bases with nobody out in the top of the second, but Piccirillo got out of the inning unscathed starting a 1-2-3 double-play and inducing a groundball to end the inning with the Bears still on top 2-1.

In the third inning Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) provided some insurance for Piccirillo with a two-run homer over the center field fence.  Mendez scored the third run of the inning on and RBI groundout from Steven Ellis (Broad Channel, NY/St. Francis Prep) to bring the lead to 5-1.

The Bears continued to add to their lead scoring a run in the fourth on a Cutrone RBI double and a sacrifice fly from Jeff Bonowicz (Whitestone, NY/Holy Cross).

SUNYIT was able to scratch out a pair of runs in the top half of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 7-3, but Piccirillo wouldn't allow the Wildcats any closer as he went the distance for his third win this season.  The junior allowed six hits and two earned runs while striking out two.

The Bears were wearing their P.F. Flyers in game two, swiping a season-high-tying four bases.  McKenna and Mendez accounted for five of St. Joseph's seven runs in game two and Danny Zaretsky (Brooklyn, NY/Lincoln) chipped in with two hits.

It'll be a short turn-around for the Bears as they wrap up St. Patrick's Day weekend with another doubleheader Sunday afternoon at Purchase State.  Game one is scheduled for 12:00 pm.