Cutrone Fires Three-Hitter, McKenna Breaks Hitting Streak Record as Baseball Splits With Golden Eagles

PATCHOGUE, N.Y.—Sparked by a complete game three-hitter from senior Chris Cutrone (Levittown, N.Y./Island Trees), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team would take a 7-1 victory over St. Joseph's College (Long Island) before the Golden Eagles would earn a split of the first meeting between the two sibling rivals, winning 11-7 in game two on Sunday afternoon at the SJC Outdoor Complex.

The Bears (15-16) extended their win streak to three with the game one victory and reached the .500 mark for the second time this season. The Golden Eagles (19-13) entered the afternoon having already locked up the Skyline Conference regular season title. When the two squads will meet again next season, it will be a conference matchup with the Bears joining the league in 2016.

Cutrone silenced the Eagles bats in the opener as he struck out six, walked two and carried a shutout into the seventh in earning his first win of the season, improving to 1-5. He also helped his own cause at the dish batting 3-for-4 with a RBI.

Fellow senior Thomas McKenna (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) finished the day batting 3-for-8 including launching his team-leading third home run of the season and having hit successfully in both games, set a new Bears record extending his hitting streak to 15 games, breaking a record that has stood since 2008.

Both squads remained deadlocked for four innings in the opener, with Eagle starter Glenn Patriss retiring the first 11 Bears in order before Brooklyn loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, only to come away empty handed. The Bears broke through in the following inning with another two-out rally on four straight hits from Bobby Perretti (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside), McKenna, Michael Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) and Cutrone, with McKenna's and Cutrone's base knocks putting the Bears up 2-0.

Brooklyn posted another deuce in the sixth on a Domenick Camerada (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) double and a Perretti sacrifice fly and tacked on three more insurance runs in the seventh to give Cutrone a 7-0 lead headed into the final frame. Long Island finally advanced their first runner past second in the game in the seventh and James Terry spoiled the shutout with a sacrifice fly, but Cutrone remained in control to seal the victory.

The Eagles' bats came alive early in game two, jumping ahead 3-0 in the first on back-to-back doubles from Brendan Sullivan and Joseph Calabrese. Sullivan tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly in the third as the Bears couldn't slow down the Eagles bats who combined for 12 hits and scored seven more runs over the next three innings to take a commanding 11-1 advantage entering the seventh.

Brooklyn made some noise in their final at bat as McKenna led off the inning with a solo home run and Long Island aided the Bears with an error, later allowing a run to score on a wild pitch, and three straight walks to force in the third run of the inning. With the bases still loaded, Vinny Rossi (Bayside, N.Y./Holy Cross) delivered everyone home with a double that highlighted a 3-for-4 game with three RBI, but the rally would fall short with the Bears scoring six runs and bringing the tying run to the on deck circle.

D. Camerada finished with two RBI in the game with a sacrifice in the sixth and the bases loaded walk in the seventh.

Luebcke would take the loss on the mound for the Bears, falling to 3-2, striking out four and surrendering seven runs on nine hits.

The Bears will open a five-game home stand at Padavan-Preller Field on Wednesday, April 29 hosting another future Skyline Conference opponent Purchase College in a single game starting at 4 p.m. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com