Box Score
Wayne, N.J. — Obviously John Jay and William Paterson did not need time to rest after their respective Tuesday shootouts. Less than 24 hours removed from the Bloodhounds 15-14 win at Mount Saint Mary’s under the lights on Tuesday evening in Newburgh, N.Y., and a day removed from William Paterson’s 18-17 loss to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y., the two schools dueled to a 43 run battle on Wednesday afternoon. But it was the Bloodhounds who came out on top as John Jay outlasted William Paterson 22-21 as John Jay is back over .500 at 17-16 on the season.
The visiting Bloodhounds fell behind big in the early stages and trailed 12-3 after three innings. The host Pioneers scored 12 unanswered runs after John Jay took a 3-0 lead after the top of the first. William Paterson got three runs in the bottom of the first, four in the second and five in the third.
John Jay took the 3-0 advantage in the first and got the scoring started as Chris Nastasi (Bayville, NY / IMG Academy), who was 3-for-5 with four runs and an RBI, ripped a seeing eye single through the left side to score Xavier Perez (Bronx, NY / Manhattan Center) who was 1-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. Later in the frame Nastasi and John Massoni (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter’s Boys), who had a big afternoon going 3-for-5 and was a triple shy of the cycle with three runs and five RBI, came around to score on a double by Johan Abad (Corona, NY / Flushing) who had seven RBI in the contest while going 3-for-5 with two runs.
And after falling behind by nine runs, John Jay got a run back in the top of the fourth after Anthony Cestaro (Paramus, NJ / Paramus), who also had a tremendous offensive outing going 3-for-5 with four runs and two RBI, reached on an error by the Pioneer right fielder and made William Paterson pay by coming around to score on a groundout by Abad.
On the mound Cestaro earned the win after going 5.0 innings in relief allowing eight runs (four earned) and striking out six.
The Pioneers however went back up by nine with a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth and William Paterson led 13-4.
But the Bloodhounds managed to outscore the host school 18-4 over the next four innings and John Jay led 22-17 after eight innings. The Bloodhounds got six runs in the fifth, three in the sixth, seven in the seventh and two in the eighth to cap the offensive explosion.
John Jay cut into the lead in the fifth with six runs. Nick Bentivegna (Staten Island, NY / St. Joseph’s by the Sea) ripped a bases clearing double to drive in three runs. For the game Bentivegna was 3-for-4 with a runs and three RBI.
The Bloodhounds later tied the game at 13-13 in the top of the sixth on a three run homer by Massoni that scored Perez and Edwin Hernandez (Brooklyn, NY / Murry Bergtraum) who was 2-for-7 with three runs.
But the Pioneers answered back with a four run sixth to go back up 17-13.
But John Jay had another huge inning in the seventh, putting up seven runs to take a 20-17 lead and the Bloodhounds never trailed again. The Bloodhounds got the scoring started on a two run double by Massoni that scored Hernandez and Steven Roman (Middletown, NY / Chapel Field Christian) who went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. The inning was capped by Roman in his second at bat of the frame as he nailed a two run single to right that scored Bentivegna and Abad. Earlier in the inning the Bloodhounds took the lead 18-17 on an RBI groundout by Albert Cepeda (Bronx, NY / Graphic Arts) to score Cestaro.
John Jay added two more insurance runs in the eighth that proved to be vital, taking advantage of a Pioneer miscue. A two out rally was capped on a two run single by Abad that gave him RBI numbers six and seven on the afternoon to score Nastasi and Cestaro. With two outs and nobody on Nastasi hit a shot to right field in four territory in what would have ended the inning, but was dropped by the William Paterson right fielder to give John Jay new life. The Bloodhounds took full advantage as Nastasi reached first after being hit by the pitch and Cestaro scorched a double to right. Abad cleaned up the bases with the single to highlight the Bloodhound offense.
After a quiet bottom eight for the Pioneers, William Paterson platted four runners in the ninth to get to within a run. But with the bases loaded and two outs, the final batter grounded into a 5-4 fielder’s choice to end the slugfest.
John Jay returns to action on Sat. Apr. 26 for a home doubleheader against CCNY, noon at Legion Field.
