The Ramapo baseball team participated in the RussMatt Invitational in Auburndale, Fla. over spring break, where they earned a 6-2 record. They are currently on a five-game winning streak and now sit at 11-4 overall for the season. With this record, they still have yet to play an in-conference game.
To start off the week-long tournament, the Roadrunners team defeated Ripon College on Saturday, March 15 in their first game at the RussMatt Baseball Invitational. The baseball team won their first game with a score of 7-1, making their record 6-2 while the Red Hawks maintained a standing of 2-3 overall.
Ripon was the first team on the board in the bottom of the third inning with one run over Ramapo. Owen Gerhardt walked to lead off the third before stealing second. Gerhardt stole third and later scored following a strikeout from the Ramapo’s starting pitcher Nick Danbrowney.
The Roadrunners tied the game at the top of the sixth, 1-1. Senior Dominic Ciani led off the inning with a double before moving to third base on a fly ball hit by Jack Tallent. Zach Novakowski hit a double, giving Ciani the opportunity to earn a run and tie the game up at one.
Ramapo earned the rest of their runs in the top of the eighth inning, getting six runs and four hits. Tallent drove home Will Egner with an RBI single that broke the 1-1 run tie. After that, Novakowski was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases with no outs. Zach Bailey hit a sacrifice fly to push Ciani home before John Higgins hit an RBI single to left field, leaving Ramapo 4-1. Jesse Swartout smashed a three-run homerun to make the final score 7-1.
The starting pitcher for the Roadrunners was Danbrowney with a 2-1 record, who struck out 10, walked two and had four hits over his seven innings pitched. Ryan Lasko, the usual relief pitcher for Ramapo, pitched the final two innings as he struck out two and blocked the Red Hawks from earning any runs or hits.
Following the first game of the tournament, the Roadrunners went on to lose two games and win one, making their record 7-4 before sparking a five-game winning streak to end the tournament in Florida.
In the final game in Florida, Ramapo won their fifth straight game with a close game victory of 1-0 over Augustana College. The Roadrunners are now at a standing record of 11-4 overall, and the Vikings now standing at 8-5 overall.
The game on Saturday was a pitching duel between the teams that ended with the Roadrunners emerging victorious with a one-run lead. In the game, there were 22 strikeouts between both teams with just eight hits overall.
The Roadrunners were the first and only to score a run in the game by the seventh inning. Swartout was the only Roadrunner to reach the base. With a defensive error, he reached second before advancing to third base on a fly ball resulting in an out from Matt Lalomia. Higgins drove Swartout home with an RBI single to take the one-run lead and earn the only run out of both teams.
Pitching for the Roadrunners was James Pazdera with a standing of 3-1, along with Higgins. Pazdera struck out ten, walked four and allowed one hit in the seven innings pitched. Higgins took the mound in the final two innings of the game and kept the Vikings to earn just one hit. He struck out two to close out the game for the Roadrunners.
The Ramapo baseball team will return to action this Saturday in a doubleheader against Montclair State University in their Yogi Berra Stadium. These two games will be the first games played in conference action within the New Jersey Athletic Conference.
rbleich@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics
