Baseball Takes Down #13 Johns Hopkins, 8-7, on Wednesday Morning

Written by Joshua Soto (SJC-LI Sports Information)
(Photo Credit: Stephanie Reda)  

Fort Myers, FL| In the second split-squad series of the Gene Cusic Classic, the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) baseball team took down #13 Johns Hopkins University, 8-7, on Wednesday morning at the Player Development Complex in Fort Myers, FL.

With the win the Golden Eagles improve to 5-4 overall as the Blue Jays fall to 11-3.

Johns Hopkins got off to a quick start scoring two earned runs in the first to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 edge and took 3-0 lead in the second.

In the top of the third, right fielder Anthony Bonilla drove in Dennis McAllister to cut SJC's deficit 3-1.

The next inning, Anthony Raucci and Daniel Campanelli plated a run with back-to-back singles to right field, and Matthew Burnett doubled in a pair of runs to give SJC a 5-3 lead.

Johns Hopkins answered back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth after a throwing error helped the Blue Jays score the tying run.

After three scoreless innings, Lou Doria smacked a single to center field to drive in Dylan Piscitelli and Burnett for the 7-5 lead. Shortly after, SJC tacked on another run on a Campanelli sacrifice fly to extend its lead 8-5.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Blue Jays added another run to close their deficit to two (8-6).

Johns Hopkins, looking to tie the game, began the final frame with back-to-back walks issued by PJ Martino to bring up Mike Smith, who singled through the left side to drive in a run. With runners on first and second and no outs, Martino fired back-to-back strikeout before retiring Mike Eberle to upset #13 Johns Hopkins, 8-7.

Josh Outsen went two innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits. Brandon Lubrano allowed two runs on two hits in 4.1 innings and earned the win. Martino worked a scoreless eighth and struck out three batters for his first save as a Golden Eagle.

Burnett, Doria, and Raucci all had multi-hit games. Burnett, Doria, and Campanelli all drove in two runs in the contest.

The Golden Eagles will return home and start conference play on Saturday, March 25 when they take on the College of Mount St. Vincent at Gregg Alfano at 12:00 PM. Live stats will be available here.