Baseball Outslugs Yeshiva, Extends Win Streak to Five

PALISADES PARK, N.J. — The St. Joseph's University Brooklyn baseball team's bats came alive as they outscored Yeshiva University, 52-10, in a Skyline Conference twin bill on Friday afternoon.

In the Bears' (9-23, 7-11) 28-7 game-one win over the Maccabees (2-23, 0-18), 11 batters recorded base knocks while Louis Lombardi (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and Abner Victor (San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic/John Adams) combined for 10 of the team's 26 RBI.

Kevin Reyes' (Bronx, N.Y./AECI) four-RBI showing in game two lifted the navy and gray to a 24-3 triumph over the hosts. The graduate student moves to within one hit of reaching the 100-hit milestone. Omar Salcedo (New York, N.Y./LaSalle Academy) and Alex Goldberg (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach) came within singles of hitting for the cycle as they combined to bat 6-for-7.

Thomas Jankowski (Middle Village, N.Y./Maspeth) and Ryan Wnorowski (Maspeth, N.Y./St. John's Prep) each recorded their first collegiate victories on the bump.

How it Happened, Game 1

All three leadoff bats singled to begin the game and scored, giving the Bears an early 3-0 advantage. Zach Schnabel's (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) bases-clearing triple saw the lead increase to 6-0. Two additional runs crossed the plate in the second inning before a 16-run outburst in the third.

With one out and the bags juiced, Lombardi cleared the bases with a two-bagger to right to reach double-figures. The navy and gray added five more runs before the second out of the stanza, thanks to a combination of runs batted in and Maccabee miscues. Now leading 17-0, Lombardi – in his second at-bat of the inning – once again doubled, this time driving in a pair of runs. A trio of walks and Victor's two-RBI single rounded out the highest-scoring inning in program history.

Yeshiva grabbed a pair of runs back in the bottom of the third before two walks and Nick Tapio's (Sacramento, Calif./Christian Brothers) RBI single in the fourth put St. Joseph's ahead, 27-2.

Following YU's third run of the game, scoring cooled off over the next two frames with Jankowski striking out three in that span.

Justin Biordi's (Howard Beach, N.Y./Scholars' Academy) second triple of the season in the top of the seventh brought in Chris Perez (Bronx, N.Y./Mount Saint Michael Academy) for the Bears' 28th run. Despite a string of singles and four Maccabee runs in the home half, Jankowski was able to get out of the jam to see out the result.

Game 2

A pair of triples from Gardener and Salcedo brought in three of the team's first eight runs of the first inning. Lucas Collet (Toulouse, France/Lyc'ee Bellevue) and Goldberg each registered RBI with a single and double in the frame. The Bears' lead grew to 10-0 in the second on Goldberg's second two-bagger in as many at-bats, this time driving in a pair of runs. He scored on Biordi's double in the next at-bat. St. Joseph's ended the inning with a 12-0 advantage thanks to Salecedo's RBI single before the final out of the stanza.

Biordi, who was hit by a pitch to start the fourth, scored from first on Salcedo's double to left. The Bears made it 14-0 before the hosts got on the board in their half of the inning.

Three runs crossed the plate for the Bears in the fifth, all coming with two outs. Hernandez doubled down the left-field line and brought in the first run before he and Chris Leary (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park Memorial) scored on Mike Medina Jr.'s (Selden, N.Y./Newfield) triple. They led 17-3 following a pair of Yeshiva RBI singles.

A seven-run sixth inning, highlighted by Hernandez and Reyes each batting in a pair, capped off a 52-run day for St. Joseph's, coming away with the 24-3 game-two win.

For the Bears, Game 1

• The team's 16-run third broke the previous record for runs in an inning (13 at Gallaudet, 2010), 28 runs in a game narrowly edged the previous record (27 at Lincoln (Pa.), 2009), and 26 RBI is the most in a single contest since batting in 25 runs against Lincoln in 2009 and Yeshiva in 2014.

• Schnabel's seven at-bats matched the record, previously set five times. He brought in three runs and scored one.

• Lombardi's six RBI marked a season-best and came three RBI shy of tying the individual record which was set in 2010.

• Victor brought in a career-best four runs in his fourth multi-hit game of the year.

• Gardener's three RBI were a season-high. He rounded out the day with 5 RBI and batted 4-for-8.

• Tapio, Reyes, and Biordi each had a hit and a pair of RBI.

• Starter Matt McHugh (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) struck out a pair in three innings on the bump.

For the Bears, Game 2

• Reyes' four RBI marked a season-high. He had his second three-hit game this week, going 3-for-4 against Old Westbury on Sunday.

• Salcedo had his first-career multi-hit game, going 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored.

• Goldberg's four runs, three hits, and three RBI were all season bests. Biordi also scored four runs.

• Hernandez finished 3-for-6 with a pair of runs scored and three RBI.

• Medina Jr. went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and drove in two.

• Wnorowski finished with three K's and an earned run.

Up Next

The Bears carry their five-game win streak in their return to Pennsylvania on Saturday, April 30 for a non-conference doubleheader with Marywood University. First pitch from Scranton is scheduled for noon with live stats and video available on sjcbears.com/live.