Piccirillo Pitches Complete Game Shutout in Bears Win over CCNY

BELLEROSE, NY – Junior Paul Piccirillo (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) pitched one of the greatest games in St. Joseph's history on Wednesday evening at Padavan-Preller Fields in Bellerose, NY.  Piccirillo was dominant through all nine innings allowing no runs and just three hits while striking out a career-high nine batters in the Bears 11-0 win over CCNY.

The win gives Piccirillo eight in his career, the most in Bears history and improves his 2012 record to 4-0, tying him with Chris Davidson for the most wins in a single season.

Overshadowed by Piccirillo's performance was the Bears offense, which put up ten or more runs for the third time this season.  St. Joseph's used big innings, scoring their 11 runs in only three frames.

The first batch of runs came in the third inning.  After the inning started out rather precariously with CCNY retiring the first two batters, Steven Ellis (Broad Channel, NY/St. Francis Prep) started a rally with an infield single to short.  Vinny Rossi (Whitestone, NY/Holy Cross) drove him in a few pitches later with a double off of the top of the center-field fence.  St. Joseph's collected two more hits and two runs to knock Beaver starter Dilson Paulino out of the game.

With Piccirillo tossing zeros, the Bears offense didn't need to score much, but St. Joseph's piled on five more runs in the fifth inning, two of which coming on a two-RBI single from Ellis, his first two of a game-high three RBI on the day.  They also added three more in the seventh, with two extra-base hits in the inning, a double from Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, NY/St. Francis Prep) and a triple from Joe Mendez (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell).

St. Joseph's picked up 16 hits in the game with every starter collecting at least one hit and one run and seven starters tallying multiple-hit games.  Ellis and Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) each had two base knocks and three and two RBI respectively.

The story though, was Piccirillo.  With the help of two runners caught stealing by catcher Mike Cundari (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) and a double play, Piccirillo faced 28 batters in nine innings, just one over the minimum.  The three hits allowed are also the fewest by a starter throwing nine innings in team history.

The Bears (7-10) will look to build off this win by heading to New Jersey City University for a single afternoon matinee tomorrow, March 22nd, starting at 3:30 pm.  Fans can watch the live video and stats (courtesy of NJCU) with links on www.SJCBears.com.