Cutrone Homers Twice as Baseball Splits Wild Doubleheader with Lehman

BRONX, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) baseball team was a half-inning away from sweeping Lehman College, but a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh helped the Lightning salvage a split of an exciting doubleheader, after a 5-4 win game one and dropping an 8-7 decision, on Friday night.

Senior Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees) led the Bears (3-8) with two home runs, five RBI and scored two runs over the doubleheader. Michael Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) connected on two hits and drove in three runs, all in game two. Nicholas LoPrinzi (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) smacked two hits along with a run scored the game-winning RBI single in the top of the seventh of game one.

Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) added two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. Connor Pasetti (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) secured his first win of the season, tossing six innings and allowing three hits and striking out five batters. James Moran (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavier) earned his first save in a St. Joseph's uniform with a scoreless seventh to close out the victory in game one.

The Lightning (1-5) were paced by Miguel Rodriguez, who totaled two hits and four RBI, including a three-run homer in game one. Jhon Comas drilled three hits with two doubles, two runs scored and a run batted in.

Danny Rodriguez, Christopher Lopez and Stephen Smith each slapped two hits apiece, with Smith completing the game-two comeback on a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.

St. Joseph's struck first in game one on McKenna's two-run single in the third, then Cutrone launched the first of two homers of the twin bill in the fourth to put the Bears up 4-0. The lead would not last too long with Lehman posting four runs in the fifth on a Thomas Montilli RBI single and a Miguel Rodriguez three-run shot to tie the game at four.

Moving into the seventh, McKenna drew a one-out walk and moved to second for his team-high fifth stolen base on the season. After a M. Camerada strikeout, LoPrinzi delivered a two-out RBI single to centerfield to give them the lead. Moran would come in the bottom half of the frame and strand a leadoff double to close out the Bears' win.

In the second game, Lehman built an early lead with a run in the first and two in the second inning. M. Camerada got a run back in the third frame with a double to left to plate McKenna. Trailing 4-1 in the top of the fourth, the Bears knotted the game up with Cutrone's second shot of the day on a three-run homer.

Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) smacked an RBI double and M. Camerada added a run-scoring single to cap off a five-run inning. St. Joseph's would tack on another insurance run on a M. Camerada sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to 7-4.

The Lightning would strike back in the bottom half with a leadoff walk and a double. A Carlos Alcantara RBI groundout followed by a Lopez base hit put the tying runs on base. With D. Rodriguez batting and two outs, an error on a grounder to third base allowed both runs to score. Smith then delivered the walk-off RBI single to left to complete the comeback for their first win on the season.

The Bears continue their weekend run of games when they face off with USCAA foe SUNY-Canton tomorrow morning at Dowling College in a doubleheader. First pitch is set at 9:00 a.m. Live stats will be available at SJCBears.com.