Richard Anderson tossed a complete game win in the opener over the Bears

The College of Staten Island men’s baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader this afternoon, taking a come-from-behind 4-2 win in the opener before falling 11-0 in the second game to St. Joseph’s College (Brooklyn) in a twin bill played at the CSI Baseball Complex. CSI, which saw their seven-game win skein halted on the afternoon, now stand at 12-8 overall, while the Bears lifted their record to 11-2. Today also marked CSI Baseball’s “Heart 4 Jake” Day, where the program helped raise funds on behalf of Jake Schron and his family. A week ago today, two-year-old Jake received a new heart from a donor family and is currently recuperating at Montefiore Hospital.

In what a pitcher’s duel in the opener, CSI’s Richard Anderson squared off against SJC’s Chris Cutrone, and the duo was up to the task. CSI registered a run against Cutrone early, taking a 1-0 lead in the game’s first stanza when Will DiFede doubled in Bryan Moreno, who led off the game with a base hit, advancing to second base on a Joseph Palmeri sacrifice.

Both pitcher’s worked quickly from there until the fourth inning, when SJC got even when Thomas McKenna, who singled, stole a base and advanced to third on a wild pitch, was brought in on a Joseph Mendez ground ball. One inning later, the Bears struck again, taking a 2-1 lead on a Brian Luebcke RBI-single that plated Dominick Camarada.

Down to its final nine outs, CSI responded. First, the Dolphins tied the score in their half of the fifth via a Moreno sac fly that would bring home James Lewis, who led off the inning with a walk, stole second, and later in the inning was advanced on a ground ball out. After SJC stranded a batter in their half of the sixth, Chris Ramanauskas introduced CSI’s half of the inning with a triple to right centerfield. After a ground out, Robert Bernardo plated home Ramanauskas with an RBI single up the middle. After Joseph Cespuglio was plunked, Michael Milazzo laced another RBI-single, scoring Bernardo to incur the final damage, and giving CSI the 4-2 advantage going into the seventh. SJC got a runner on base via a CSI error, but Anderson shut the door from there, going the distance for the complete-game win, allowing two runs on six hits, fanning a pair. Cutrone took the loss, allowing four earned runs on five hits while walking and striking out four.

If hits were at a premium in the opener, then it got tougher in the second for the Dolphins, as CSI was held to just two hits in the second game against SJC hurler Donny Pagano, who went the distance, striki8ng out a pair in the dominant pitching performance. Meanwhile, the Bears had their way of it at the dish as well, aided by five CSI errors, which would ultimately lead to four unearned runs to cross.

SJC scored a pair in the first, highlighted by Mendez and Cutrone RBI-strokes. After three innings, the Bears took a 3-0 lead, and then chased CSI starter Joseph Fiori in the third, scoring another three runs off of him and CSI reliever Chris Matusiewicz. In the next frame, SJC got another two runners on base and Matusiewicz was lifted in favor of Kiernan Monaghan, but the Bears took advantage, tallying another four runs, highlighted by Vin Rossi’s two-RBI single.

SJC scattered 12 hits in the second game, while the bottom two-thirds of the order for CSI went 0-for-16 against Pagano.

CSI will be back in action on Tuesday, April 2, when they travel to Union, New Jersey, to take on Kean University for a single contest at 3:30pm.