A cool March evening was the scene of the first game of the season for the Golden Eagles. St. Joe’s faced off with John Jay at Gregg Alfano field in Patchogue, and they took care of business to the tune of 12-1.
It was a complete effort from St. Joe’s, their pitching nearly shut out their opponents and the bats did damage against John Jay’s staff. Lefty Nick Clemente got the start, and threw three shutout innings in which he struck out five and allowed only a single hit. However, it was Josh Outsen who earned the win after relieving Clemente and throwing two two-hit shutout innings.
John Jay scored their lone run in the sixth, Brandon Lubrano gave up one unearned on a single to right, but he was excellent over his two innings otherwise. The game was finished by P.J. Martino, who struck out four and gave up just one hit during the game’s final two innings.
The Golden Eagle’s offense was running on all cylinders, as all nine starters reached base, and three batters had multi-hit days. Paul Britt, and Tyler Crafa had two hits each, and center fielder Matthew Burnett had three.
Britt lead off the fifth with a powerful home run to left that put St. Joe’s up 5-0. Burnett didn’t have a big fly like Britt, but he drove in the game’s first run on a ground out to first in the third inning. He also had an RBI single later in the eighth. Crafa didn’t drive in any runs, but scored twice, in large part by putting himself in scoring position with three stolen bases on the day.
The biggest blow of the day came off the bat of left fielder Lou Doria, with the bases loaded following singles by Burnett and Britt, Doria cranked a pitch over the wall in right-center field for a grand slam.
Also, shortstop Anthony Raucci, catcher Daniel Campanelli, and third baseman Tyler Sanderson each drove in a run. Raucci and Campanelli on back to back doubles, and Sanderson on a sacrifice fly immediately after them in the fourth.
Head coach Richard Garret was thrilled with what he saw, “It was a great night, pitchers threw well, batters were really very disciplined, looked for their pitch to drive, we ran the bases well. It’s nice to see six weeks of practice come together on a field.”
Next on the schedule for St. Joe’s will be the Gene Cusic Classic next week in Fort Myers, Florida. They’ll begin by facing off with Western Connecticut State Thursday, March 16th.
