Mount Saint Mary Slips Past Baseball With Late-Inning Surges

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — Buoyed by strong starts on the mound by Andrew Monda and Matt McHugh, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) baseball team (2-14, 1-10) led for a large portion of their doubleheader with Mount Saint Mary College (6-5, 5-4) on Saturday afternoon but succumbed to late-inning rallies by the Knights, falling 4-2 and 13-3 in eight innings. 

Matthew Rienzi set a new Bears record making his 42nd career appearance on the mound in game two. 

Game 1: Mount Saint Mary 4, St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) 2

• A pair of early throwing errors by the Knights defense allowed Chris Leary and Anthony Hernandez to score in the home half of the first to take a 2-0 lead, helping Andrew Monda's cause.
• Monda worked a shutout until the fifth when MSMC plated a run thanks to Michael Digiovanni's RBI single. It was his lone run allowed in the contest as he also struck out three before being pulled after 5.1 innings. SJC held on to a 2-1 lead through six despite knocking just one hit in the fifth.
• Joe Acampora worked out of a jam in the sixth leaving Knights standing at second and third, but was unable to get out of the seventh and stuck with the loss. MSMC scored three in their final at bat to snatch the win in the opener. 
• Thomas Airey and Justin Biordi both went 1-for-3 with the former belting a double.

Game 2: Mount Saint Mary 13, St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) 3 (8 innings)

• The Knights scored the first run of the game in the opening inning before the Bears retaliated courtesy of William DeLuca's single that brought in Hernandez.
• The game was all square through three until Chris Leary cleared the bases with a two-RBI double in the fourth that gave the Bears a 3-1 advantage, which they carried into the eighth. 
• Matt McHugh had a strong outing in a no-decision, allowing three runs while striking out a season-high five over seven innings of work. Matthew Rienzi would see action in the eighth inning, for his record-setting 42nd Bears pitching appearance. 
• The Knights would rally in the eighth and break the game open. Dominick Marzigliano's two-bagger brought the Knights tied the game at 3-all and before Devin Tait's two-RBI triple put MSMC up for good before pushing 12 across in the frame. 
• At the plate, Louis Lombardi went 2-for-3 and stole a base while Airey and Biordi also collected base knocks. Mike Santoriello took the loss in relief, dropping to 0-3 on the season. 

Up Next

The Bears and Knights conclude their four-game series as they face off in Newburgh on Sunday, April 18. First pitch is scheduled for noon with live stats and video available on SJCBears.com.