Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics.
The Ramapo College baseball team played a doubleheader against Swarthmore College. In the first game, Ramapo lost 8-7 and in the second game they won by the same exact score. With the doubleheader split, the Roadrunners' record moved to 7-8 while Swarthmore moved to 7-12.
In game one, Swarthmore jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an unearned run driven in by Matthew Silvestre. However, Ramapo answered right back in the top of the second on a two-run blast by catcher Sean Donaghue, making the score 2-1.
In the bottom half of the inning, Swarthmore tied the game 2-2 and then proceeded to take a 6-2 lead by the end of the fourth, boosted by a three-run inning. Ramapo battled back to bring the score within one in the top of the seventh inning. First, it was Dominick Ciani driving in Christian Alonso on an RBI double. Then, Tyler Guadagno scored on a wild pitch. Rounding out the scoring in the inning was Justin Garthaffner, who drove in Ciani on an RBI single and pushed the score to 6-5.
Swarthmore was able to extend its lead to 8-5 in the bottom of the eighth, and Ramapo tried everything it could to battle back in the top of the ninth. Matt Lalomia and Donaghue hit back-to-back homers to bring the score to 8-7, which would end up being the final score.
In the game, Swarthmore led Ramapo in hits 13-6, stolen bases 3-0 and strikeouts 11-7. Ramapo was able to draw eight walks to go along with their six hits. Pitcher Nick Danbrowney went four innings for the Roadrunners, allowing six runs — five earned — on 10 hits while striking out three. John Higgins came on in relief and tossed four innings of two-run ball, only allowing three hits and collecting four strikeouts.
In game two, Swarthmore once again took an early 1-0 lead courtesy of an RBI double by Austin Burgess. The Roadrunners were able to answer back in a big way, scoring four runs in the top of the second and taking a 4-1 lead. The scoring was started by Donaghue, who drove in Lalomia with an RBI single. Donaghue then scored on an error by Silvestre. The last two runs of the inning were driven in on a single by Ciani.
In the top of the third, Matt Carovillano extended the lead to 5-1 with a solo home run to center field. Then in the fourth, Brian Baranok made the score 6-1 with an RBI double which scored Guadagno. Swarthmore clawed back with one swing of the bat, as Silvestre hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth, bringing the score to 6-5.
Silvestre tied the game at six in the bottom of the seventh inning with an RBI single. However, in the top of the ninth inning, both Donaghue and Lalomia scored for Ramapo after two separate throwing errors on one play, giving Ramapo an 8-6 lead. The team was able to fight off a Swarthmore rally in the bottom of the inning, holding onto an 8-7 victory.
Pitcher Troy Karaty started the game for Ramapo and went five innings. He allowed five runs and eight hits while striking out three. Will Paoli earned the win after pitching three innings and allowing just one run. During that time, he scattered two hits and struck out one. Ciani earned the save for Ramapo, pitching the final inning and only giving up one run, which was unearned, and only allowed one hit.
In the second game, Swarthmore led Ramapo in hits by one. They also struck out seven batters to Ramapo’s four. Ramapo did, however, lead the game in walks 8-4. The biggest thing that mattered was that the Roadrunners walked out with an 8-7 win.
Ramapo’s next game will be on Friday, April 1 at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y.. The game will be played at 3:30 p.m. and will be the team’s last non-conference game before playing a doubleheader at home against Stockton University on Saturday, April 2 in an NJAC matchup.
bschmid@ramapo.edu
