Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics
The Ramapo baseball team, despite being ranked the third best team in the country, according to D3baseball.com, lost its first game of the season on Tuesday against Misericordia University by a final score of 8-5.
The Roadrunners opened up the scoreboard as they scored the first run of the game in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly by senior Scott Paulus to drive in fellow senior Joe Venturino. Sophomore Mike DiGirolamo followed with an RBI single down the right field line to bring home senior Connor Walsh and give Ramapo a 2-0 lead.
The Cougars got both of those runs back in the top of the fifth inning with four of the first five batters getting hits. Freshman Parker Abate drove in senior Miles Westrich for the Cougars’ first run of the game. Two batters later, senior Kyle Lindsay squeaked an RBI single through the left side, driving in Abate to knot things up at two. The Cougars stayed hot with the bases loaded and two outs, but senior Mike Comerford grounded into a fielder’s choice on a 2-0 count to end the threat.
One inning later, the Cougars put up a four-spot on three hits, a walk, a hit batter and an error, making the score 6-2 after five and a half innings. After junior Jeremy DeCottis stole third, freshman Conor Smith pulled off a safety squeeze bunt, driving in DeCottis, giving the Cougars the lead.
The next three runs came with two outs in the inning – Abate scored on an error by Austin Unglaub, followed by a single by senior DJ Navocynski, driving in Lindsay and freshman Kenny Jarema.
In the bottom of the sixth, Paulus doubled to right-center field to drive in both Walsh and Unglaub. The next batter, DiGirolamo, ripped a single up the middle to drive in Paulus to cut the lead to just a run.
However, that would be the last of the scoring in the ballgame, giving the Cougars a 6-5 victory.
The Roadrunners also left two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh, ending a threat that could have given them the lead in the game.
Junior John Doherty was handed his first loss of the season, throwing five-plus innings, letting up three earned runs, eight hits and one walk. He also hit a batter and struck out three. His ERA rose from 2.92 to 3.63 on the season.
On the bright side, Venturino increased his hitting streak to 13 games with a single to center field in the fourth inning. However, sophomore Matt Chemis went 0-4 on the day, snapping his 12-game hitting streak.
The Roadrunners came back from Tuesday’s loss with a road victory against Farmingdale State.
The third best team in the nation will be back in action when they start a four-game homestand on Saturday, as they open up the NJAC season with a double-header against New Jersey City University at Jeff Maund Memorial Field.
rmorik@ramapo.edu
