#4 Baseball Advances to Skyline Championship Round With Victory Over #5 MSMC
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#5 Mt. St. Mary (N.Y.) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
|
#4 St. Joseph's (L.I.) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | X | 6 | 14 | 3 |
Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)
Patchogue, NY| Senior Brandon Lubrano struck out six batters in seven innings of work as the fourth-seeded St. Joseph's College (L.I.) baseball team bounced fifth-seeded Mount St. Mary College 6-1 in Skyline Conference first round action at home on Thursday evening.
With the win, the Golden Eagles (21-10) advance to the double-elimination championship round of the tournament, which opens on Saturday morning. The Knights wrap their season with 14-25 mark.
Mary's would open the scoring in the top of the first, when Kristopher Fragomeni used an RBI double to score Blake Keenan from first, but SJC would respond in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single up the middle off the bat of Joseph Calabrese.
The Golden Eagles would inch out in front (2-1) in the bottom of the fifth, when the MSMC second baseman recorded an error that allowed Brendan Sullivan to advance home. In the next inning, SJC doubled its lead when James Nakashian's sacrifice bunt sent Ryan Walsh home from third.
Faced with a two-out, bases-loaded situation in the top of the seventh, Brandon Lubrano forced Keenan to pop out to right, making way for Daniel Campanelli to extend the SJC lead to three runs (4-1) in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single to left center.
Sullivan tacked on an additional run in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single to center (5-1), and later in the inning Calabrese scored the first baseman with an RBI double to right (6-1).
Ryan Aloise, who took the mound in the eighth, would retire three MSMC batters over the last two innings to earn the save and clinch the 6-1 win for the Golden Eagles.
Sullivan went a game-best 4-for-5 with one RBI and two runs, and Campanelli hit 3-for-4 with one RBI. Nick Girardi (2-5) and Calabrese (2-5) both recorded multiple hits.
The Golden Eagles will open the championship round with a 10:00 AM contest vs. host and top seed Farmingdale State on Saturday. Live stats for the game—and the tournament—will be available here.
