#4 Farmingdale State - 7, #5 Neumann - 2

Auburn, N.Y. - Four runs in the bottom of the eighth gave Farmingdale State a 7-2 victory over Neumann University in today's first game of the NCAA Ithaca Regional. The Rams advance into the winner's bracket and will face the winner of #1 Ithaca/#8 Moravian tomorrow at 4:30 p.m., while the Knights will face the loser of that game tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

After a delayed start, the game went scoreless through four innings. In the first, Neumann had two runners in scoring position with one out, but junior pitcher Michael Dolce (St. James, N.Y.) forced a lineout to second and closed the inning with a strikeout. He struck out the side in the second and allowed just one hit over the next three innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, senior right fielder Terrence Bohonan (Patchogue, N.Y.) led off with a single through the left side. A hit-and-run by senior catcher Eric Wiener (Deer Park, N.Y.) for runners on first and second. After Bohonan was out at third on a sacrifice bunt, the runners moved to second and third on a passed ball.

Senior left fielder David Zilnicki (Riverhead, N.Y.) singled to short to score Wiener for the 1-0 lead. A wild pitch scored Scarlato and Zilnicki hustled over to third. A wild pitch walk scored Zilnicki and the Rams led 3-0.

In the top of the sixth, Neumann loaded the bases on two hits and an error, scoring on the error to make it 3-1. Dolce struck out the 6 and 7 hitters and a groundout to sophomore shortstop Anthony Alvino (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) ended the inning and kept Farmingdale State ahead.

Neumann led of the eighth with a double to left and freshman Alex Weingarten (East Rockaway, N.Y.) came in to relieve Dolce. Dolce allowed seven hits and struck out seven, allowing one earned run and two walks over seven innings. Weingarten allowed two hits and got his team out of another bases loaded situation with a pop-up to short.

In the bottom of the inning, Zilnicki led off with a double down the left field line that hit off the chalk. The third base umpire called it foul, but after a meeting ruled it fair and Zilnicki was awarded the hit. Senior first baseman Ron Remi (Massapequa, N.Y.) moved Zilnicki over to third on a sac bunt and he scored on a wild pitch.

Alvino followed with a walk and stole second, before back-to-back triples by freshman third baseman Jorge Ruiz (Shirley, N.Y.) and freshman designated hitter Dalton McCarthy (Manorville, N.Y.) scored two more runs for Farmingdale State. A single to center by Bohonan would score McCarthy for the fourth run of the inning.

In the ninth, Weingarten allowed just one hit as the Rams took the victory to secure their spot tomorrow in the 4:30 p.m. game.

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