Raiders Close to First Victory, But Couldn't Grasp

BELLEROSE, NY – Freshman Joseph Mendez (Staten Island, NY) hit a walk-off three-run homer giving the St. Joseph's College baseball team a 5-3 victory over Rivier in their home opener at Padavan-Preller Field. The Bears followed it up with a 15 hit barrage in the nightcap to sweep the Raiders, 12-6.  St. Joseph's improves to 3-9 on the season and Rivier remains winless at 0-6.

Game 1 – St. Joseph's 5, Rivier 3

Rivier jumped out to 1-0 lead in the first after a throwing error left junior Kevin Romero (Waterbury, CT) on first base and two consecutive hits, a double by Kevin Weaver (Hudson, NH) and a single by Kyle Bowser (Newington, NH) drove him home. St. Joseph's tied the game in the second inning on a single down the left field line that scored Jon Mendez, who singled earlier in the inning.

Rivier went ahead 3-1 plating single runs in the third and fifth frames with Bowser grabbing another RBI on a single to the shortstop and beat out the throw.  In the sixth, a leadoff walk and stolen base set up Joe Boccia to deliver the runner home with a two-out hit to center to cut Rivier's lead to 1, but the Raiders escaped the inning starnding two St. Joseph's runners.

The Raiders were unable to add to their lead in the top of the seventh inning which set the stage for bottom of the final inning.  Joseph Swierczewski (Ozone Park, NY) led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to right center and stole second to put the tying run in scoring position. Raider starter Kevin Weaver struck out Chris Pacifico (Brooklyn, NY) and got Thomas Karasinski (Staten Island, NY) to pop up in the infield to get within one out of the win, but still faced the heart of the Bears' lineup. Weaver made a costly error plunking Diaz after jumping ahead to an 0-2 count bringing Joe Mendez to the plate.

Mendez, the Bears cleanup hitter, drove an 0-1 pitch to left center for his second home run of the season and the game winner. The walk-off home run is the second in St. Joseph's College baseball history, with Joe Harten hitting a one-out, three-run home run last year to lift the Bears to a 14-13 victory over John Jay.

Game 2 – St. Joseph's 12, Rivier 6

Carrying the momentum of the comeback victory, the Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first with a Joe Mendez single down the left field line. Rivier took back a run in the second on a Nathan Knezevic (New Boston, NH) single before the Bears knocked three straight hits to the outfield to lead off the third and go up 4-1.

A leadoff error and four straight hits opened up a five run frame for the Raiders who took the lead 6-4. However, the Bears would take advantage of a leadoff error in the bottom half of the frame and a two-out, two-run homer to left field gave the Bears the lead for good.

St. Joseph's added five more insurance runs in the fifth inning to finish the game 12-6.