By Jesse Borek
PATCHOGUE, NY — Staying undefeated in Skyline Conference play thus far this season, the St. Joseph’s Golden Eagles stunned the Old Westbury Panthers to sweep the doubleheader on the back of a four-run, ninth-inning comeback in the opener.
After the shock of scoring four runs in their final at-bat in the nine-inning opener, the Golden Eagles would finish off the Panthers 4-1 in the backend of the cap, moving to 5-0 in Conference play.
Aided by two errors, timely hitting, and a ton of wind, St. Joseph’s stormed back in the bottom of the ninth to win on senior Anthony Andreani’s walk-off base hit.
After the inning’s first error, junior James Nakashian made it hurt, bringing home two runs on a double and trimming the OW lead down to 4-3. Another outfield error would knot the score up before Andreani’s heroics came later in the frame to a frenzied pro-Eagles crowd.
It was seemingly full steam ahead for Old Westbury through the front eight innings of the opener as ace Tim Ingram was mowing through the SJC lineup. Ingram would finish with eight strikeouts in his 8.1 innings of work, but ultimately get tagged with the loss after his defense betrayed him in the game’s final frame.
Not to be outdone was the duo from St. Joseph’s. Sophomore Ryan Aloise, pitched the front six innings before turning it over to senior Matt Mills for the final three. Mills wouldn’t allow a hit over the final three innings, setting the table for SJC’s comeback in the bottom of the ninth.
The duo of junior’s Nick Girardi and Brendan Sullivan in the heart of the order was key to the SJC win, as each went 3-for-5 in the opening game of the DH.
The only Panther to have a multi-hit game was senior captain Christian Faust, who left the game after an RBI double in the top of the sixth, which gave OW a 4-1 lead. He appeared to injure his leg, but the current status of his injury is unknown.
In the second contest, the Golden Eagles would come out on top 4-1.
Having seemingly zapped the wind out of the Panthers’ sails, SJC would cruise to the sweep on the afternoon, not allowing OW to cross the plate until the seventh when they were searching for some magic of their own in the final inning that would not come to fruition.
Leading the way with his second multi-hit game of the day for the Golden Eagles was sophomore leadoff man Anthony Bonilla. His two-RBI single in the second, and sacrifice fly in the fourth, made him responsible for three of the four runs SJC would produce.
Once again, it was the errors that befell the Panthers, as only one of the four runs junior Tyler Kapela allowed was earned.
Sophomore Josh Outsen went the distance for SJC in the seven-inning second leg, allowing just six hits and two walks, while striking out two and allowing just a single run. His record now moves to 3-1 on the year, with his ERA dropping to 1.67.
Hitting his first home run of the season in the opening frame was Nakashian, who enjoyed his afternoon of being sandwiched between the hot hitting of Bonilla and Girardi.
Next up for St. Joseph’s will be a doubleheader on Sunday against Purchase on the road. The team will return home during the week for single-game contests with William Paterson (Tuesday at 3:30) and Lehman (Wednesday at 6:00).
For the Panthers, they’ll return home on Sunday for a doubleheader against Farmingdale State. They’ll also be at home on Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 to take on Drew University.
