Despite rain showers popping in and out all day St. Joseph’s and SUNY Old Westbury squared off in Patchogue for a Skyline conference doubleheader. A controversial home run call in the sixth helped propel St. Joe’s to a 4-3 win in game one, and in game two they exploded for a 12-0 win. St. Joe’s moves to 12-2 in the conference while Westbury falls to 6-8.
Game one was scoreless for the first five innings as Nick Clemente was fantastic for St. Joe’s, and Trey Pizzutello was great for Westbury despite getting tagged with the loss.
Shortstop Tommy Ziegen got the scoring started with an RBI double in the sixth, and Paul Rapoli followed him up with a two-run single later in the inning. The bottom half that inning is where things got interesting.
Left fielder Lou Doria pulled a high fly ball to right down the line, the umpire ruled that it had hooked around the foul pole and called it a three-run homer. Westbury was not happy, but after a short discussion the call still stood, and with one swing the game was tied as they went into the late innings.
After a lead-off single and a steal of second base in the bottom of the eighth, Tyler Crafa came around to score the winning run on a single to left by Anthony Bonilla. Crafa and Paul Britt had muli-hit games for St. Joe’s, and Jesse Russo and Kevin Lao had two each for Westbury.
Despite getting the loss Pizzutello pitched well, throwing eight innings while striking out four and allowing seven hits. He may have even walked away the winner if not for the call on Doria’s home run.
On the other side Clemente allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings, but did not get the win. Anthony Caminiti was awarded it for his perfect 2 1/3 innings of work.
Game two would be scheduled for just seven innings, but the weather would be determined to make them as unpleasant as possible. Rain began falling steadily, but with so many games already missed due to weather this season the teams toughed it out.
It was a one sided affair, St. Joe’s offense put up twelve runs and their starter, PJ Martino, shut Westbury out. Martino threw the complete seven inning game, he didn’t allow a run while giving up six hits and striking out three and walking one.
Crafa gave them a 1-0 lead in the second on a single through the right side, and St. Joe’s wouldn’t go an inning without scoring a run after that. Doria continued to swing a hot bat in the third, launching a two-run shot to the opposite field in left center.
That would prove to be more than enough, but St. Joe’s wasn’t going to let up. They added two more on a Bonilla sacrifice fly and a single by Dylan Piscitelli in the fourth. Then four more in the fifth, with two coming in on a double by Crafa. He then scored on a wild pitch, before one more run came came home on a sacrifice fly by Doria.
St. Joe’s added some more insurance in the sixth, one run scored on a Tyler Sanderson double, then two more came in in the seventh on a single by Matthew Burrnett.
Crafa led both sides with three hits, and Burrnett, Sanderson and Anthony Raucci had two each. Doria and Crafa both had three RBIs in game two and Burrnett had two himself.
Game two was simply a dominant performance by St. Joe’s, after the game head coach Rich Garrett said: “We’re playing team baseball, and I’m very proud of how our team is coming together. Everyday we build on the day before.”
Both schools will have their senior day tomorrow, St. Joe’s will face Farmingdale State and Westbury will face St. Joseph’s College at Brooklyn.
