Roadrunner Baseball Wins Two Games in North Carolina

Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics

After missing out on the New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament last season, the Ramapo baseball team started their season at the Bobcat Invitational in Fayetteville, N.C. and came home with two wins.

They defeated the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg 10-0 on Friday and the Saint Joseph’s College of Maine 4-2 on Saturday.

The team, although being around the sport for all of their lives, said they still had butterflies before the first game.

“It was surreal to actually go get in the vans and go down,” said head coach Rich Martin.

Martin added that he was very impressed with his team in the tournament.

“I was amazed at how well we played and how error-free we were,” said Martin. “I was very concerned we didn’t catch any fly balls or see pitching [while practicing inside]. The only fly balls we saw were in a parking lot. U Pitt suffered some of the stuff I thought we were going to suffer from. It turned out we played really well.”

Senior Walker Larson earned his first win of the year on Friday, striking out eight batters over six shutout innings.

“Walker just refuses to do poorly,” said Martin. “He’s got a lot of talent. He has a major league change-up and a major league slider. He can go to the next level.”

Senior Chris Werr batted six for nine over the weekend with five RBIs. He went four for five with two runs scored and four RBIs on Friday.

“He’s matured as a player, as a person – every year he gets more consistent,” said Martin. 

Martin said that he is expecting the five-hitter to have a huge season as a senior co-captain.

“I was seeing the ball well. I put some good swings on it, and they fell in,” said Werr. “It feels good to help your team win.”

Senior outfielder Scott Peschiani added a double, a triple and four runs scored.

On Saturday, senior Tom Portesy threw eight strong innings, striking out 14 batters and only letting up six hits, two walks and two earned runs. Senior pitcher Mark Doyle came in for his first save of the year.

“I struggled a lot down the stretch last year, so starting off the season like this was extremely special,” said Portesy. “I was able to get ahead of a majority of my batters and was able to mess around with my slider a little bit. You get in a rhythm and find a sequence that works and you keep going back to it.”

Junior Scott Paulus drove home Peschiani with an RBI single to right field in the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. In the fifth inning, junior Rafael Dela Cruz and senior Brandon Berger hit back-to-back one-out singles before scoring. Werr then laced a single, bringing home Peschiani for a 4-0 lead.

The Roadrunners will next see action when they travel to Auburndale, Fla. in the Russ Matt Tournament.

“It’s going to be a tough schedule, we play every day. It’s going to be a challenge,” said Martin.

Martin said his team has the potential to be very successful.

“If everybody stays healthy, I think we’re a playoff team and more,” said Martin.  “We have Division I players playing here. I think the sky is the limit.”

rmorik@ramapo.edu