Baseball Prepares For Upcoming NJAC Schedule

The Ramapo baseball team earned a decisive 13-2 win against the Farmingdale State College Rams on Tuesday at home. However, the satisfaction from the win didn’t last long, as the Roadrunners were defeated yesterday by the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks 6-1.

The games were the last two non-conference games before the Roadrunners take on William Paterson in New Jersey Athletic Conference competition.

“The conference, we have to do well in. We’ve had a good game, a bad game, and now it’s time for us to put all that aside and get ready to play in the conference,” said Ramapo head coach Rich Martin.

On Tuesday, the Roadrunners jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning against the Rams, as senior John Capuano, and sophomores Joe Venturino and Ian Osterman each scored a run.  

Ramapo added four more runs in the third inning and never looked back. The team combined for 15 hits in the game.

“We don’t play too many games where we can relax. Every game in Florida was a nail-biter and went down to the last out, so it was nice to be able to relax a little bit with that lead,” Martin said.

Senior pitcher Kevin Lee earned his second win of the season and threw five strikeouts in six innings. He also did not allow the Rams to get a hit until the fifth inning.

On Wednesday, Ramapo battled with Stevens, but came up short as Stevens scored the first run in the bottom of the first. The game was kept close afterwards, and the game was still 1-0 at the top of the sixth inning.

However, with two outs and the bases loaded, Ramapo sophomore Ryan Rinsky was struck out by Stevens pitcher, senior Matt Buccheri.

“We had a couple of instances where we had men in scoring position, and didn’t bring them in,” Martin said. “It frustrated us that we couldn’t do the same thing that we’ve done the last couple of games, which is score a lot of runs.”

The Roadrunners managed to avoid getting shut out, as Venturino hit a double to left field and brought freshman Ryan Fallon in for a run.

The Ducks would score three times in the seventh inning and once more in the eighth to secure the win.

Despite the loss, the Roadrunners will be right back in action today as they take on William Paterson at 3:30 p.m. as both teams begin their NJAC schedules.

William Paterson is 5-8 overall and has lost three consecutive games going into tomorrow. They were defeated 6-2 by Stevens on March 27. Meanwhile, the Roadrunners enter the game at 10-4 overall.

“Paterson is a quality NJAC opponent,” Martin said. “We’re going to put one of our stronger pitchers in and we’re going to play some solid defense as we’ve been doing.” 

mmontal1@ramapo.edu