Double Delight for Baseball as they Sweep Season-Opening Twinbill

Patchogue, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's Golden Eagles (2-0), under new head coach Richard Garrett, kicked off their season with two victories in front of their home crowd on Saturday afternoon when they defeated the Cardinals of Plattsburgh State, 10-6 and 1-0.

It wasn't a great start to the day for the Eagles as the Cardinals put five runs on the board in the top of the first against SJC starter Jonathan Beekman (Ridge, N.Y./Longwood). After loading the bases with no outs, the 4-5-6 hitters came through for Plattsburgh with two doubles and a single to put the Cardinals up 4-0. A sac fly drove in the fifth run but Beekman settled down, striking out two of the next three batters he faced.

Anthony Bonilla (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Farmingdale) came up to the plate for the first Eagles at bat of the season and drilled a double to left centerfield and three batters later, Mike Aloisio (Westbury, N.Y./W.T. Clarke) drove him in with an RBI double.

Beekman stayed out of trouble and shut the Cardinals down in the top half of the second inning and the Eagles exploded offensively in the bottom half. Matt Leach (Rockville Center, N.Y./South Side) led off the inning with a double and was moved over to third on a base hit by Ryan Walsh (Nesconset, N.Y./Chaminade). Walsh took off, forcing a throw down to second and Leach scored as a result. On the next pitch, Brian Godoy (Coral Springs, FL/Coral Springs) drilled a double to bring in the run. With one out, Dan Diblasi (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and singled to drive in two runs. Joseph Calabrese (Westbury, N.Y./W.T. Clarke) came through with a two-out RBI single to give the Golden Eagles a 6-5 lead.

Thomas Moore (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) came on for Beekman and shut the Cardinals down for the next three innings until he was relieved by Frank Trionfo (Middle Island, N.Y./Longwood). Trionfo kept the Cardinals in check in the top of the sixth sending the Eagles to the plate with a one run lead in the bottom of the frame. Several walks and an RBI single by Aloisio led to three insurance runs to put the Eagles up 10-5. The Cardinals got one back in the top of the seventh but the Eagles picked up their first win of the season.

Moore picked up the victory for SJC. Diblasi went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI's and Aloisio went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI's.

After 16 runs between the two teams in game one, not many in attendance would have predicted a pitching duel for the second game, but that is exactly what they got. Robert Hyde (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon)was dominant for the Golden Eagles allowing just two hits in five innings pitched.

The Eagles got two runners on in the bottom of the first but failed to drive them in. Thomas Rubinstein (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) singled to lead off the bottom half of the fourth inning and stole second with two outs, but to no avail as he was stranded on second. Glenn Patriss (Wading River, N.Y./Riverhead) came on to relieve Hyde, who put in a terrific outing, in the top of the sixth. Patriss gave up a base hit to his first batter but his defense turned two to end the inning. The Eagles finally looked poised to score their first run in the bottom half of the inning as they loaded the bases with none out but a pop-fly to the outfield, an infield fly, and a strikeout stranded all three runners as the game remained scoreless heading to the final inning.

Patriss retired the side in the top half sending the Eagles up with a chance to win the game in walk-off fashion. For the second straight inning, the Golden Eagles loaded the bases with no outs. Aloisio came in as a pinch-hitter with a chance to win the game but he popped up to third. The next batter, Leach, struck out looking which left Calabrese as the Eagles final chance to win the game and avoid extra innings. Calabrese worked the count to 2-2 when an inside pitch drilled him in the arm, bringing home the winning run in unorthodox fashion.

Rubinstein went 2-for-2 with a walk and Hyde went five innings, surrendered two hits, no runs and struck out four.  Patriss picked up the victory for the Golden Eagles.

The Eagles take on Brockport tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.