THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – The Maritime baseball team fell to the St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) Bears on Wednesday evening by the score of 9-6 as the team lost an official road game that was played at home on Reinhart Field.
 
Seniors Matthew Sollin (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) and Joe Longo (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./St. John the Baptist), as well as junior Bruce Tyler (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) and freshman Chris Deddo (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) all had a pair of hits on the game. Deddo led the team with two runs scored out of the leadoff position, while junior Kevin Monahan (Seaford, N.Y./MacArthur) led the team with two RBIs on the game.
 
On the hill, senior James Very (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) got the start and pitched two innings. Very was followed by freshman Brian Hughes (Maspeth, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy), senior Ryan Heizman (Commack, N.Y./Commack), juniorMichael Oliva (Staten Island, N.Y./New Dorp) and freshman Anthony D'Ancona (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman). The pitching staff as a whole yielded eight earned runs on a combined 147 pitches on the night.
 
Maritime got on the board first after Deddo led off the frame with a walk, followed by a Longo single. Two batters later, Sollin collected a single to load the bases and bring up Monahan. The Maritime leftfielder lifted a ball deep to centerfield, allowing Deddo to tag and come across with Maritime's first run.
 
In the bottom of the inning, Very allowed a run as the Bears evened up the score at one, then allowed a second run in the bottom of the second as St. Joseph's took its first lead of the game.
 
The top of the third inning saw Maritime tie the game at two as Longo led off the inning on a first-pitch single. Three batters later, after Sollin reached on a hit, Monahan singled to centerfield to plate Longo with the tying run.
 
Hughes came on for the third inning and retired the Bears on three groundouts, needing just nine pitches to get out of the frame. In his second inning of work, Hughes allowed two runs as St. Joseph's took back the lead at 4-2.
 
Heizman was next on the hill after the Maritime bats were unable to do anything in the fifth inning. After getting the first out on a hard hit ball to right field, walks and shaky defense behind the righthander allowed the Bears to score three runs without collecting a hit. Oliva came on and stranded the bases loaded in the fifth.
 
Maritime's bats came alive in the sixth aided by some poor fielding on the part of St. Joseph's, freshman Joe DiLeo (Naples, Fla./St. John Neumann) reached on an error, followed by Tyler collecting a base knock up the middle. Sophomore Chris Stewart (Bethpage, N.Y./Chaminade) was up next and doubled to left centerfield to plate DiLeo; senior Lenny Baldassare (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) was up next and also reached on an error, which let Tyler touch the plate to pull Maritime within three.
 
Deddo singled down the right field line to score Stewart, but Baldassare was erased on the play, followed by Longo getting plunked and McLaughlin walking to load the bases. Sollin then walked to collect an easy RBI and keep the bases loaded. However, the third St. Joseph's pitcher of the inning was able to keep Maritime from scoring any further, with the score 7-6 in favor of the Bears.
 
After a leadoff walk by Oliva in the sixth, D'Ancona came on the hill and with the aid of a caught stealing, got out of the inning without putting anyone on base.
 
Maritime had a chance to even up the game in top of the eighth, after Deddo singled down the left field line and a two-base error left him standing on third base with one out. Longo was then hit by a pitch to bring up McLaughlin.
 
The Privateer third baseman drove the ball to right field, but Longo had wandered too far off of third and was called out on a bang-bang play at first after trying to get back. Meanwhile, Deddo had tagged at third and was close to scoring the tying run before the third out, but the umpire had ruled the third out was made prior to the run scoring to send the game to the bottom of the inning.
 
D'Ancona later allowed a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth as St. Joseph's swung momentum back in its favor and capped off the scoring at 9-6 in favor of the Bears.
 
After two innings by Very, Hughes took the loss after allowing two runs in his two innings of work. Heizman was able to get through 2/3 of an inning, before Oliva retired the final batter in the fifth. D'Ancona closed out the game as he went three innings and allowed just the two runs on the home run in the eighth.
 
Maritime (8-13, 3-5 Skyline) will get back to league play on Saturday morning when the team travels to Purchase for an 11 a.m. start against the Panthers.
 
St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) (12-14) will next play host to Valley Forge on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. with the games scheduled to take place at Gregg Alfano Field in Patchogue, home of the St. Joseph's (LI) Golden Eagles.