Baseball Stumbles in Non-Conference Tilt vs. Kean

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) baseball team was handed a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Kean University on Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference tilt played at Gregg Alfano Field. With the loss the Golden Eagles fall to 8-5 (2-2 Skyline) on the season, while the Cougars improve to 10-9 (0-0 NJAC).

Kean's Sal Taromina opened the scoring in the top of the first, when the designated hitter's double scored lead-off man Tyler Heisch. Taromina would score off an error with the next at-bat, and Matt Krupa would advance home in the same fashion immediately after to extend the guests' lead to three runs (3-0).

In the top of the second, Kean shortstop Chris Amato advanced home on a wild pitch to put the Cougars up 4-0, and it wasn't until the bottom of the sixth that the Golden Eagles responded. With the bases loaded, second baseman Mike Griffo wired a double to right-center that cleared the bases and cut the hosts' deficit to just one run (4-3).

Ryan Reitmeyer would double the Courgars' lead in the top of the seventh, when his liner to left field scored Brian Cole. With no responses in the final three innings, the Golden Eagles suffered their fifth defeat of the season.

Brandon Lubrano (1-1) picked up the loss for the Golden Eagles, allowing three hits and four runs in 6.2 innings. Matt Hess allowed one run in 2.1 innings of relief.

SJC's Anthony Bonilla recorded a game-best three hits (3-5), while Griffo (1-4) tallied a game-high three RBI's.

The Golden Eagles return to action tomorrow, March 30, when they travel to face William Paterson in Wayne, NJ at 3:30 PM. Live stats will be available here.