Last week the Ramapo baseball team played two games, losing to Swarthmore College on Friday, and defeating Ursinus College on Tuesday afternoon. The split gives the Roadrunners a 10-6 record so far this season.
The loss to Swarthmore was Ramapo’s first loss of the season at home, and their largest margin of defeat, falling 12-0. Sophomore Dominick Ciani got the start for the Roadrunners, lasting one and two-thirds innings, allowing four earned runs, four hits, three walks and striking out two.
Following Ciani was sophomore Jack Martin, who went two and one-third of an inning, allowing four hits, three earned runs, two walks and tallying two strikeouts. The remainder of the game saw work from pitchers Will Kennedy, Billy Scanlon, Gerard Chiricolo and Matt Ivanicki. The four combined to throw five innings, allowing four runs, five walks and racking up seven strikeouts.
At the plate, the best performance for Ramapo belonged to graduate student Justin Garthaffner, who went two for three on the day. Junior Matt Lalomia tallied the only extra base hit for the Roadrunners, while senior Jason Cuba and team captain Brian Baranok tallied stolen bases.
For Swarthmore, Liam Alpern tossed six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, one walk and striking out nine Roadrunners. At the plate, outfielder Austin Burgess went three for five with three RBI, while first baseman Matthew Silvestre went two for three with three RBI as well. Pitchers Alex Schoessler, Andrew Moy and Ethan Weiss each threw one scoreless inning in relief.
As for Tuesday’s game, it was a thrilling come-from-behind victory for Ramapo. Ursinus got on the board early, as Nick Diaz tallied a two-run single in the first inning, and Peter Balos followed that with an RBI single of his own. In the bottom of the second inning, Jordan Williams added to Ursinus’ lead with an RBI groundout, giving the Bears a 4-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Roadrunners got one run back as graduate student Matt Carovillano tallied a sacrifice fly, scoring Lalomia. The score would remain 4-1 in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
In the top of the eighth inning, Lalomia brought home junior TJ Roman on an RBI single, junior Will Egner got walked with the bases loaded to score Baranok and Cuba tallied a go-ahead two-run single, scoring Garthaffner and Lalomia.
Sophomore Jarod Abram recorded a hold in the bottom of the eighth inning, allowing one hit and striking out one, and junior Will Paoli registered his third save of the season, striking out two batters in the bottom of the ninth.
Freshman James Pazdera got the start for the Roadrunners, lasting two and two-thirds innings, allowing four runs — three earned — on five hits, two walks and tallied two strikeouts. In relief, junior Andrew Case threw one and one-third hitless innings, Kennedy tossed two shutout innings and senior Troy Karaty got credited with the win, throwing a perfect seventh inning.
Up next for Ramapo is their first New Jersey Athletic Conference competition of the season, with a doubleheader against Stockton University on Saturday, April 1 in Galloway. The Roadrunners will then return home to face Maritime College on Tuesday, April 4.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics
