The Ramapo men’s baseball team took to the field Monday afternoon against the Farmingdale State Rams after their scheduled game on Friday got postponed due to weather. The Roadrunners’ bats came to life in the slugfest, defeating the Rams 18-9.
Starting the game for Ramapo was opening day-ace Nick Danbrowney, who was looking to build off his strong first start where he struck out 10 in five and two-thirds innings. Unfortunately, the Rams got to Danbrowney early, striking him for six earned runs in three innings of work. Junior John Higgins followed Danbrowney, lasting one and one-third innings and giving up three runs — two earned.
The Roadrunners’ bullpen kept Farmingdale off the board for the remaining four and two-thirds innings. Sophomore Jack
Martin followed Higgins by striking out the only two batters he faced. Freshman Will Kennedy — who was credited with the win — tallied three shutout innings of work, striking out three while only allowing one hit. Junior Will Paoli struck out the side in the ninth inning, sealing the win for the Roadrunners.
Ramapo plated three runs in the first inning. Senior Sean Donaghue scored senior Jason Cuba on an RBI single. Junior Matt Lalomia plated senior Tyler Guadagno on an RBI double, and Donaghue later scored on an error from Farmingdale’s Alex Russo.
The Rams struck back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first, as Chris McGuggart launched a two-run homer to left field, scoring Ryan Wasserman.
After a scoreless second inning, Lalomia tallied his second RBI of the game for Ramapo, on a double that scored team captain Brian Baranok. The Rams struck back for four runs of their own in the bottom of the third, however. Jordan Lambert scored Matthew Flood on an RBI single and Daniel Deutsch doubled to right field, scoring McGuggart. Bobby Pollock followed that up with a two-run double, scoring Deutsch and Lambert.
In the bottom of the fourth, Farmingdale added two more runs as Nolan White scored on a wild pitch and McGuggart scored Flood on an RBI single. The Rams took a 9-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning as Pollock scored on a wild pitch.
From that point on, the game belonged to the Roadrunners. In the top of the seventh inning, Ramapo plated nine runs with six different players recording an RBI. Senior Christian Alonso scored on a wild pitch, graduate student Justin Garthaffner plated two runs on a single to center, sophomore Dominick Ciani plated one on a fielder’s choice, sophomore Brandon Shine tied the game on a single to shortstop, Cuba tallied an RBI single, Guadagno scored two runs on a triple and Baranok brought him home with an RBI single.
The scoring did not stop there for Ramapo, as they plated another five runs in the top of the eighth inning. Lalomia scored on a wild pitch, junior TJ Roman on a fielder’s choice error, Shine scored on an error on a ball hit in play by Cuba and Guadagno hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Cuba.
It was a sloppy game all around, but the Roadrunners came away on top, improving to a 2-1 record on the season. Ramapo’s next few matchups come during spring break, where they will fly down to Florida and play nine games at the 2023 RussMatt Invitational. Their opponents will include Westminster College, Curry College, Roger Williams University, Anderson University, The College of St. Scholastica, SUNY Fredonia and Ohio Northern University.
The tournament will take place from March 12-19 and will be played in the city of Auburndale. Each game will be livestreamed on the team’s website.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @rcnj_baseball, Twitter
