Piccirillo Records 100th Strikeout in Comeback Win Over Lehman

BROOKLYN, NY  - The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team took advantage of seven Lehman College errors in the Bears 7-5 win over the Lightning at MCU Park on Thursday afternoon.  Junior Paul Piccirillo (Brooklyn, NY/Xavierian) settled down after allowing five early runs to earn his seventh win, striking out his 100th career batter in the process.  Piccirillo, already St. Joseph's all-time strikeout leader, is the first Bear to reach the 100 strikeout milestone.  

Piccirillo experienced some control problems at the outset, walking the first two batters to face him.  He regrouped to retire the next three hitters, but allowed one to score on an RBI ground out from Freddy Parra.

The Bears, winners of four of their last five revved their bats up early, scoring four first inning runs to take a 4-1 lead.  Joe Mendez (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) drove home Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) with his 11th double of the season and Chris Cutrone (Levittown, NY/Island Trees HS) picked up an RBI on his first of three hits on the afternoon.

The lead was short-lived however, as the Lightning loaded the bases against Piccirillo in the top half of the second.  With one out, Frank Almonte laced a triple to left center, unloading the bases and tying the game.   Lehman took the lead 5-4 on the next at bat when Almonte scored on a sacrifice fly from Michael Liang. 

Both Piccirillo and Lightning starter Stephen Valdes calmed down after a wild first two innings.  Piccirillo worked out of a few jams, none bigger than in the fourth inning.  Still ahead 5-4, the Lightning loaded the bases with one out.  Piccirillo got the ground ball he needed, a hot shot to third snagged by Rob Mongiori (Jackson Heights, NY/Monsignor McClancy) off the bat of Liang.  Mongiori stepped on the bag for the force out and threw across the diamond to complete the inning-ending double-play.

The Bears finally tied the game on a two-out RBI bloop single from Cutrone in the bottom half of the fifth inning, scoring Vinny Rossi (Bayside, NY/Holy Cross) who singled earlier in the inning.

Piccirillo survived another Lehman threat in the seventh inning to preserve the 5-5 tie.  With one out, the Lightning put runners on second and third.  The Bears starter struck out Parra for the second out and Diaz picked off a line drive in center off the bat of Onix Mejia for the third out.

St. Joseph's took full advantage of Lehman's miscues in the bottom of the seventh, taking a lead 7-5 with two runs on one hit, scoring on a wild pitch and on the Lightning's seventh error of the game.

Piccirillo shut down the Lightning with two hitless innings for his fourth complete game and seventh win of the season.  The junior allowed five earned runs on six hits while striking out seven batters.

Cutrone was the only Bear to finish with multiple hits, picking up a game-high three and two RBI while scoring a run.  Seven different players scored a run for St. Joseph's, including Joseph Boccia (Westwood, NJ/Westwood) who extended his career-high hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fourth inning.

Almonte gave the Bears fits all afternoon, reaching base in all four plate appearances going 2-for-2 with a triple, two walks, three RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases.

St. Joseph's will look to win their sixth game in April as they travel to Philadelphia, PA to face Arcadia University in the first ever meeting between the two squads.  First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 pm.