Box Score
Tampa, Fla.— The John Jay baseball team had one stolen from them in their first of seven baseball games in Florida this week as the Bloodhounds were defeated by Beloit College, 7-6, in 10 innings on Sunday. A member of Beloit College stole home with two outs in the bottom of the tenth to win it.
John Jay now stands at 0-2 on the season.
The Bloodhounds struck first in the top half of the first inning when Edwin Hernandez (Brooklyn, NY / Murry Bergtraum), who led off the game with a single, scored from third on a ground out to short by Chris Nastasi (Bayville, NY / IMG Academy).
The Buccaneers however got a pair of runs in the bottom of the first off of starting pitcher Michael Colletta (Staten Island, NY / New Dorp) and took a 2-1 lead.
Both teams went quietly over the next couple of innings as a pitchers duel percolated. John Jay had seven hits on the afternoon, while Beloit had a dozen.
Beloit tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.
The Bloodhounds however reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth, due to a costly error by the Beloit pitcher as John Jay scored five unearned runs in the top of the fifth and took a 6-3 lead.
After the first batter was retired, John Jay freshman catcher Nick Bentivegna (Staten Island, NY / St. Joseph’s by the Sea) reached on an error by the Beloit pitcher, which eventually proved to be enough to open a big floodgate.
The next batter struck out leaving John Jay with two outs and a man on. But the next six Bloodhounds reached back safely resulting in the five runs.
Hernandez drew a walk, moving Bentivegna to second. The next batter, Jorge Rosado (Santo Domingo, DR / Martin Luther King), who was 2-for-4, ripped a bases clearing triple, scoring Bentivegna and Hernandez to tie the game.
But the Bloodhounds were not done. With John Massoni (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter’s Boys) at the plate, the Beloit pitcher threw a wild pitch, scoring Rosado from third to give the Bloodhounds a 4-3 lead. Massoni eventually drew a walk, then scored on John Jay’s second triple of the inning, this one off the bat of Nastasi to give the Bloodhounds a two run advantage. Nastasi went 2-for-4 on the afternoon with a run and a pair of RBI.
Xavier Perez (Bronx, NY / Manhattan Center) then ripped a single to drive in Nastasi to double up the Bloodhounds’ lead.
The lead proved to be short lived as the Buccaneers came back with three in the bottom half of the frame to tie the game (6-6).
The pitchers duel continued all the way into the extra frame. But Beloit eventually stole the game in the bottom of the tenth.
With Massoni now on the mound for John Jay, the Buccaneers’ led off the frame with a walk. Then the runner advanced to second on a groundout to second. He then moved to third on a wild pitch. After a hit batsman, Massoni struck the next batter out.
But with two outs the runner from third stole home to give Beloit the win in unconventional fashion.
“This was one that we let get away,” said John Jay head coach Dan Palumbo. “We are a very young team and the guys are still learning how to win. This is a part of the learning process these guys are going to have to overcome in order to succeed later.”
John Jay returns to action on Mon. Mar. 3 against Rockford College at 12:30 p.m. in Tampa.
