Baseball Concludes Regular Season With Sweep of CCNY

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – Senior Joe Mendez (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) and junior Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees HS) each went yard as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team concluded their regular season with a doubleheader sweep of the City College of New York, earning a 7-4 win in the opener and a 10-4 victory in the finale on Sunday afternoon at the SJC Outdoor Complex.

St. Joseph's (28-9) concludes the regular season on a five-game winning streak and heads to the USCAA Small College World Series having won 17 of their last 18 games, while CCNY (12-17-1) ends their regular season on a four-game losing streak.

The Beavers would score in the first inning of both games, but the leads were short lived as the Bears responded with big innings in the bottom half of the first to take the lead. After trailing 1-0 after a half inning in the opener, St. Joseph's put three runs on the board in their half of the first to take a 3-1 lead.

The Bears built a 4-2 lead after two innings, but CCNY came back and scored two runs off Cutrone in the third, who made the start on the mound, to tie the game at 4-4. After Mendez grounded out to start the St. Joseph's half of the third, Cutrone would help his cause at the plate by hitting a rocket over the right-field fence for his first career jack and proved to be the game winner. The Bears tacked on an additional run later in the third and scratched one across in the fifth on an RBI single by freshman Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) to build a 7-4 lead.

Cutrone went the first five innings, surrendering four earned runs on ten hits with five strikeouts and picked up the win to improve to 7-2 on the year. Freshmen Connor Pasetti (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) and Mitch Brigando (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) each tossed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen with Brigando earning his first career save.

The finale saw CCNY jump out to an early 1-0 lead off Bears senior starter Chris Vargas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth Regional). However, the St. Joseph's offense would help out Vargas with seven straight hits to begin the first highlighted by a two-run homer off the bat of Mendez, his tenth of the season, that gave the Bears a 4-1 lead after senior Mike Cundari (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) and freshman Anthony DeFillippo (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian HS) brought home runs with a double and single, respectively. St. Joseph's accumulated two more runs in the frame to take a 6-1 lead.

Vargas settled in and pitched 4 1/3 strong innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits and left the game to a standing ovation in his final regular season start as a Bear with a 6-4 advantage to his name. The Bears plated three more runs in the fifth and one in the sixth, aided by RBI singles from Rapp and freshman Brandon Salem (Franklin Square, N.Y./Valley Stream North), while junior Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) got into the action with a two-RBI single in the fifth to put St. Joseph's up 10-4.

Sophomore Brian Luebcke (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) and freshman Anthony Amatuzzi (Staten Island, N.Y./Xaverian HS) followed Vargas on the hill and combined to pitch 2 2/3 scoreless innings to secure the second win of the season for Vargas.

Mendez ended the day 4-for-7 with two RBI and a run scored, while Cutrone capped off the day going 3-for-7 with four runs scored and two RBI. Freshman Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) concluded the afternoon 3-for-7 with three runs and an RBI. McKenna went 4-for-7 with two runs and two RBI from the leadoff spot and senior Chris Pacifico (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) batted 2-for-3 in game two in his final regular season appearance.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORES

• Other Contributors: Cundari (2-for-8, R, RBI) Rapp (3-for-6, 2 RBI, R)
• After being outhit 11-9 in the opener, the Bears bounced back to outhit the Beavers 15-9 in the nightcap.
• CCNY made four errors on the day, while St. Joseph's had one miscue.
• The Beavers had five triples on the day including four in the opener.

THE BEAR FACTS

• St. Joseph's sweeps the season series with CCNY and moves to 8-3 in the all-time series.
• With his two stolen bases in the opener, McKenna is now school's all-time leader with 49 in his career, surpassing the previous mark of 47 set by Kevin Diaz.
• The Bears finish 13-4 in home games on the year.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS – USCAA SMALL COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

St. Joseph's has a week off before they head to Springfield, Illinois for the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Small College World Series. The Bears enter as the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 seed Penn State-Greater Allegheny on Monday, May 12th at 6:30 p.m.