Brigando Fans 10 to Become Career Wins Leader as Baseball Sweeps Purchase

PURCHASE, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team scored 12 unanswered runs over the final five innings of the opener and then raced out to a 3-0 lead and never trailed to take both ends of a Skyline Conference doubleheader, 13-3 and 5-1, from Purchase College on Sunday.

Seniors Mitch Brigando (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and Connor Pasetti (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) both went the distance to remain perfect on the hill. Brigando struck out 10, one shy of the Bears record, and notched his 17th career win on the mound, to take the all-time lead in program history.

Jim Kennedy (Stroudsburg, Pa./Pocono Mountain East), John Condon (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) and Kevin Linitz (Flushing, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) all knocked three hits and drove in three runs over the twin bill.

Game Info

• Final Score: St. Joseph's def. Purchase, 13-3 and 5-1.
• Location: Purchase, N.Y.
• Field: Purchase College
• Records: St. Joseph's (7-6, 6-2), Purchase (0-9, 0-6)

Game 1: St. Joseph's 13, Purchase 3

• SJC Starters: Linitz (CF) Pasetti (RF) LoPrinzi (C) Kennedy (1B) Rapp (SS) Schwartz (3B) DeLuca (DH) Rehn (2B) M. Camerada (LF) Brigando (P)
• The Panthers scored solo runs over the first three innings to build a 3-1 lead through three before the Bears scored 12 unanswered over the final five frames.
• The Bears broke free with a four-run fifth, loading the bases on a William DeLuca single, a Luke Rehn walk, and a Michael Camerada bunt single. Kevin Linitz then cleared the bases with a triple to the gap and Connor Pasetti brought him in with a double that knocked the Panther starter off the hill with the Bears up 5-3.
• After surrendering three early runs, Bears starter Mitch Brigando allowed just two more hits over six scoreless innings to go the distance for the win.
• St. Joseph's tacked on three more in the seventh on RBI singles from Nicholas LoPrinzi, John Condon, and Francis Rapp.
• The Bears poured in five more runs in the eighth and ninth highlighted by a Condon two-run double in the eighth.

Bears Highlights

• St. Joseph's knocked a season-high 17 hits with nine different Bears recording a hit, and six finishing with multi-hit efforts.
• Mitch Brigando improved to 3-0 on the mound striking out 10 over a complete-game, nine-inning effort. He allowed three runs on seven hits with two walks. His 10 strikeouts were one shy of the Bears record, which he shares with three others.
• John Condon batted 2-for-2 with three RBI, a run scored and a double.
• Kevin Linitz also drove in three runs, scored twice, and both his hits went for extra bases (double, triple).
• Luke Rehn finished 3-for-4 and scored twice in his third straight start at second base.
• Nicholas LoPrinzi collected pairs of hits, runs, and RBI at the plate and caught two runners stealing.
• Connor Pasetti went 3-for-5 with a RBI, two runs scored, a double, and two stolen bases.
• Francis Rapp knocked an RBI single in the seventh to extend his hitting streak to eight games.

Game 2: St. Joseph's 5, Purchase 1

• SJC Starters: Linitz (CF) Rehn (2B) LoPrinzi (DH) Condon (C) Rapp (SS) Kennedy (1B) Schwartz (3B) DeFillippo (RF) M. Camerada (LF) Pasetti (P)
• The Bears took advantage of a Panther miscue to score two runs in the second unearned and never trailed again.
• St. Joseph's moved ahead 3-0 on a sacrifice fly from Nicholas LoPrinzi in the third, but Purchase got the run back in the home half of the inning on a sac fly of their own.
• Purchase threatened to score in the fifth but a relay from Michael Camerada to Adam Schwartz gunned down a runner at home from left to preserve the two-run lead. The Bears then tacked on two insurance runs in their next at bat with three straight hits and back-to-back RBI singles by Jim Kennedy and Adam Schwartz wrapping up the scoring.

Bears Highlights

• Connor Pasetti went the distance for the Bears on the hill to improve to 4-0 on the season, scattering seven hits over seven innings, striking out five and walking two.
• Jim Kennedy batted 2-for-3 with a double and RBI—the only Bear with a multi-hit game.
• Adam Schwartz went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a sacrifice fly.
• John Condon (1-for-3) knocked a double to lead off the second and scored twice.
• Francis Rapp (1-for-3) singled in his final at bat in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to nine games and scored a pair of runs.
• Michael Camerada (1-for-3, R) and Kevin Linitz (1-for-4, 2B) knocked the other hits for the Bears.

The Bear Facts

• Brigando surpassed Paul Piccirillo '13, Chris Cutrone '15, and Rosario DiLorenzo '16 with his 17th career victory on the mound. He currently ranks second all-time with a career .708 winning percentage (17-7).
• St. Joseph's sweeps Purchase for the first time in four doubleheader meetings. Purchase leads the series 8-5, but the Bears have won four of the last five.
• The game one win snapped a three-game skid.
• Through Sunday's games, the Bears (6-2) match Maritime (6-0) and Farmingdale State (6-2) with a league-high six wins. Four of their six wins in league play have been by 10 runs or greater.

Next Up for St. Joseph's

The Bears head to the Garden State to face Drew University in a non-conference tilt on Wednesday, April 5 starting at 4 p.m. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com.