Baseball Wins Skyline Conference Championship

Written by Justin Miller

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's University (L.I.) baseball team won back-to-back games against the United States Merchant Marine Academy to win their fifth Skyline Conference Baseball Championship on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Eagles clinch an automatic bid into the Division III NCAA Baseball Tournament with the championship victory.

After dropping Game 3--the opening game of the double-elimination tournament at Gregg Alfano Field--on Friday afternoon, top-seeded SJLI won four-straight games from Friday night into Sunday. 

Game 8: SJLI 18, USMMA 9

The Golden Eagles faced an early bases-loaded jam in the top of the first inning, but starting pitcher Charles Aurandt worked out of the inning unscathed.

SJLI struck first in the bottom of the third when Brian Forbes (1-for-5) hit a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases and gave the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead. Ryan Decoursey (3-for-6) and John Lynch (3-for-6)  added two more runs with back-to-back RBI doubles. An RBI single from Joe Sanguedolce (4-for-6) continued the big inning and put the Golden Eagles up six runs. With the bases loaded again, Phil Krpata (3-for-6) hit an RBI double and brought in two more Golden Eagles for an 8-0 advantage heading into the fourth inning.

In the fourth inning, a leadoff error from Merchant Marine and a Decoursey single put two on with no outs for Lynch. Lynch proceeded to hit a three-run home run–his first as a Golden Eagle– to left-center field to increase the Golden Eagle lead to 11 runs. An error and two walks with bases loaded sent the home team into the fifth inning with a 14-0 advantage.

Merchant Marine got their first run of the game in the sixth inning off a Travis Leatherwood (1-for-4) RBI double. They added two more runs in the inning when Danny Heck (1-for-3) hit a two-run home run to left field. Joey Zanetti (3-for-5) hit an RBI triple to make it a 14-4 ballgame heading into the bottom of the inning.

Decoursey got one of the runs back in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single to score Krpata. Lynch grounded into a fielder's choice to bring home another run to make it 16-4 heading into the seventh.

The Mariners tacked on two runs in the top of the eighth when Tyler Reistetter (1-for-4) hit a triple. Noah Herdman (2-for-4) singled to bring in one more run in the inning, bringing the score to 16-7.

Nick Vicino (1-for-6) hit a double in the bottom of the inning to drive in two runs and bring the SJLI lead to 18-7 heading into the final frame. Merchant Marine added two runs in the bottom of the inning, but the Golden Eagles won at a final score of 18-9 to force Game 9 of the double-elimination tournament.

Aurandt (5-1) got the win for the Golden Eagles, allowing four runs over 5.2 innings and striking out six.

Game 9: SJLI 10, USMMA 3

Merchant Marine got on the board first after Noah Herdman (2-for-5) hit an RBI single for the early 1-0 advantage. Another Mariner run was scored when Travis Leatherwood (2-for-5) hit an RBI single to score Herdman in the first inning.

SJLI responded with a run of their own in the top of the second when John Thatcher (0-for-4) hit a sac-fly to bring in Nick Vicino (3-for-5).

The Golden Eagles tied the game at two in the top of the third inning when Brian Forbes (3-for-5) hit a solo shot into left field. John Lynch (2-for-5) gave SJCLI the lead in the same inning when he doubled to bring in Ryan Decoursey (2-for-3).

In the top of the fourth inning, Lynch and Vicino were both hit by pitches with the bases loaded to give increase SJLI's lead to three runs (5-2).

SJLI further added to their lead when Paul Gugliuzzo (1-for-5) hit a sac-fly to score Mike Badala (1-for-3) in the top of the fifth inning.

The Golden Eagles went up 7-2 in the top of the sixth inning when Lynch hit an RBI double. Merchant Marine loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with only one out, but Anthony Cinquemani managed to get Ryan Novakowski (0-for-4) to ground into a double play to end the inning without allowing a run.

SJLI scored for the sixth straight inning when Forbes hit an RBI single to score Krpata in the seventh. Vicino brought in another run in the same inning when he singled to score Forbes and bring the Golden Eagles to a 9-2 lead heading into the bottom of the inning.

The Mariners scored their first run since the first inning in the bottom of the seventh when Jared Chambers (3-for-5) hit an RBI single with the bases loaded. Kevin Yohe limited the damage to just the one run for the Golden Eagles and preserved their lead heading into the eighth.

Vicino added an insurance run for the Golden Eagles in the top of the ninth with an RBI single to give them a 10-3 lead heading into the bottom of the inning. Yohe pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to secure the 10-3 victory to win the Skyline Conference Championship.

Cinquemani (4-0) got the win for the Golden Eagles, allowing three runs over six innings with six strikeouts in the victory.

Sanguedolce hit .600 (12-for-20, 6 R, RBI) across the weekend and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. 

St. Joseph's will learn their NCAA Tournament fate tomorrow during the tournament selection show.