Baseball Salvages a Doubleheader Split After Extra-Inning Win over Old Westbury

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team split a doubleheader against future Skyline Conference rival Old Westbury, losing 7-1 in game one before going extra innings for the 3-2 win on Friday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Athletic Center.

This is the first win for the Bears (7-10) in the all-time series against the Panthers (10-4), the defending Skyline Conference regular-season champions, after five straight losses dating back to 2008.

Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) had the game-winning RBI in the top of the eighth of game two along with two hits and a run scored on the day. With the two hits, the senior is now tied for first on the all-time hit leaderboard with Joseph Mendez '14.

On the mound, Rosario DiLorenzo (Howard Beach, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) secured his first win on the season in game two, pitching all eight innings and giving up two runs and five hits while striking out five.

Domenick Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) collected two hits along with a run scored and drew a bases-loaded walk in game two. Brian Luebcke (Astoria, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) accounted for the lone run in game one and Michael Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) had three hits over the doubleheader.

The Panthers got a stellar outing in game one from starting pitcher Tim Ingram. He went the distance, allowing just one run and five hits and fanning seven to improve to 4-1 on the season. Christian Faust compiled two hits and five RBI, four of them in game one. Matthew Taurisani added two runs batted in of his own.

The first game saw three scoreless frames from both Ingram and Bears' starter Chris Cutrone(Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees H.S.) to start the game. In the bottom of the fourth, Old Westbury struck first with a Faust RBI double into the gap to put them up a run.

The next inning saw the Panthert erupt for six runs, including a two-run single by Taurisani and a bases-clearing double by Faust.  St. Joseph's grabbed a run in the top of the sixth after Luebcke crossing the plate on a passed ball, but that's all the offense they could muster. 

In game two, the Bears would begin with a first-inning run on a D. Camerada fielder's choice to go up 1-0.  They would load the bases with two outs in the top of the fifth when Francis Rapp (Baldwin, N.Y./Oceanside) took ball four as D. Camerada crossed the plate to extend their lead to 2-0. DiLorenzo was rolling along on the mound through five innings, only scattering two hits. The bottom of the sixth saw Old Westbury rally back with a sacrifice fly from Faust and a Robert Crocitto single to tie the game at 2-2, which would force extra innings.

In the eighth, the Bears got singles from Rapp and M. Camerada and a walk to put the first three runners on base. Then McKenna lifted a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Rapp and put the Bears up a run. DiLorenzo followed with a one-two-three bottom half of the eighth to close out the win.

St. Joseph's will close out their weekend with a doubleheader with CUNYAC foe John Jay College tomorrow at Padavan-Preller Field in Bellerose. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. Live stats will be available at SJCBears.com.