JERSEY CITY, NJ – The St. Joseph's College baseball team dropped both ends of a non-conference doubleheader to New Jersey City University (5-7) on Sunday afternoon, falling 3-0 in the opener and 16-3 in the nightcap.

Chris Davidson (San Carlos, CA/Carlmont), Kevin Diaz (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) and Joseph Boccia (Westwood, NJ/Westwood) each picked up two hits for the series.  Davidson and Diaz are the only Bears to pick up a hit in each game played, Davidson with a seven game hitting streak and Diaz at six.

Kevin Hernandez (Corona, NY/Newtown) pitched a complete game in the opener holding NJCU to three runs and five hits, but was bested by Westley Lopez who shutout the Bears allowing only two hits.

Francisco Ramizez led the Gothic Knights hitting three home runs, driving in five runs and scoring three times.

After back-to-back doubleheaders, St. Joseph's has five days off before returning to the diamond on Friday, March 26th travelling to Camden, NJ to face Rutgers-Camden in a single game starting at 3:30 PM.

Game 1 – New Jersey City 3, St. Joseph's 0

New Jersey City tallied a single run in the second inning on a solo home run with two outs by Francisco Ramirez, that proved to be all that was needed.  The Gothic Knights added another run in the following frame with a Ken Witte triple who was driven home on a Michael Fiorentino sacrifice fly.

Westley Lopez (2-0) remained in complete control for NJCU striking out 13 Bears (six looking) and issuing only one free pass en route to the complete game victory.

St. Joseph's struggled to get any run support against Lopez for Hernandez (1-1) who went the distance giving up only five hits and struck out two and walked only one.

Davidson led off the second with a single and advanced to second base on an error, but was stranded on second.  St. Joseph's best threat came in the third inning after two straight errors placing Bears at the corners with two-outs, but Lopez escaped the threat, forcing a ground out.

Diaz had the only other hit for St. Joseph's doubling in the seventh with one-out, but Lopez closed out the game striking the final two batters looking.

Game 2 – New Jersey City 16, St. Joseph's 3

St. Joseph's opened the scoring in the second inning loading the bases with two outs on singles by Diaz and Danny Zaretsky (Brooklyn, NY/Lincoln) and Jason Iannozzi.   Joe Geloso singled to right to score Diaz, but Zaretsky was thrown out at the place ending the inning. NJCU took the lead back in the bottom half of the frame scoring three runs off starter Paul Piccirillo (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian).

St. Joseph's cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the third when Davidson drove in Boccia who led the inning off with a double and threatened to score more, but left the bases loaded.  NJCU poured in eight runs in the bottom half of the inning, powered by Ramirez who led off the inning with a home run and hit a two-run homer later in the inning.  Michael Fiorentino also homered in the inning for the Gothic Knights.

St. Joseph's only managed one more run in the sixth inning, with Alvaro Quinones (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Loughlin) leading off with a double followed by a John Porcelli (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) single to put runners at the corners.  Quinones scored on an Iannozzi fielder's choice that retired Porcelli and the Bears couldn't get any more momentum in the inning.

Piccirillo (1-1) took the loss for St. Joseph's going 2.1 innings and giving up six runs.  Joe Chiusano (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's ) came in to close the game pitching the last 3.0 innings and holding the Gothic Knights to three hits and one run.

Wendel Rodriguez earned the win for the Gothic Knights going 4.0 innings, allowing six hits and two runs.  Ramirez went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Fiorentino finished 3-for-5 with five RBI to lead NJCU.