MYRTLE BEACH, SC – The St. Joseph's College Men's baseball team kicked off their season at the Cal Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, SC on Friday night. It was the team's first ever trip to the facilities under second year Head Coach Scott Losche. The Bears opened up with Oswego State from the powerful SUNY Athletic Conference, and fell 20-9.
Junior Danny Contant (Staten Island, NY/Xaverian) drew the start for the Bears. Contant struggled early with his control, surrendering a walk and a balk before an out was recorded. The Bears fell behind 3-0 after the top of the first.
Contant was hit or miss all game long. After striking out the side in the second, he allowed the first three base runners to reach on a single, walk, and hit by pitch. All three runners came around to score as the Lakers built a 6-0 lead. Oswego only got five hits off Contant, but took seven walks and scored ten runs. Contant did strike out seven hitters over four innings, the most since his freshman season.
At 13-0 the game appeared to be a blowout. St. Joseph's was doing little offensively, scattering four hits over the first innings against Jon Stevens. Finally, in the bottom of the fifth, the Bears were able to crack through against the righty and put three runs on the board. Freshman Joseph Mendez (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) drove in two runs with a double down the left field line and freshman Victor Vargas (Santo Domingo, D.R./F.D.R.) got a two-out, pinch-hit single to plate Mendez.
The Bears, still down ten, didn't give up too easily though. Stevens was finished after six innings, allowing just one earned run while striking out six, and St. Joseph's was able to get to reliever Pat Mcelduff. The Bears jumped on Mcelduff for four runs in the 7th, highlighted by Mendez's first career home run. Mendez finished his first career game 2-4 with two runs and a game-high tying four RBI. In total, four runs came across in the seventh, cutting the Lakers lead down to 13-7.
Oswego then put together a five run 8th, thanks to three extra-base hits to give themselves some added cushion, 18-7. The Bears added a run each in the 8th and 9th and the Lakers scored twice more in the 9th to bring the final tally to 20-9.
Junior Joseph Boccia (Westwood, NJ/Westwood) had a game-high tying three hits including a double and juniors Jon Mendez (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) and Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) had two hits apiece. Jon Mendez also finished with a run and RBI.
Oswego was led by Andrew Lazzaro and Ed Charles who were a combined 5-for-8 with seven RBI. Lazzaro reached base in all six of his plate appearances, walking three times and also scoring four runs. His two-run triple in the 8th brought the Laker lead back up to nine.
The Bears play three more games in Myrtle Beach over the weekend. Next up is Richard Stockton tomorrow at 10:00 am as part of a day/night double header. St. Joseph's plays Oswego again in game two. That game is slated for a 4:00 pm start.