JERSEY CITY, N.J. — For the first time since 2018, the New Jersey City University baseball team swept a two-game series against a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) competitor. Jersey City defeated the Roadrunners of Ramapo College in both games today, April 23, by final scores of 7-6 and 12-7, respectively. This was also the first time in program history that NJCU defeated Ramapo twice in one season.
Leading the historic afternoon on the mound and in the box for the Green and Gold (11-22, 3-11 NJAC) was junior outfielder Josh Hernandez (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista Community). The Florida native extended his on-base streak to 10 games, picked up his first two career saves, scored three times and knocked in a run. On the mound, the righthander finished both games with a combined 5.1 innings without allowing a run, while striking out three batters with a total of 104 total pitches. Also carrying the way on the bump was senior Paul Tannucilli (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) and freshman Andre Dean (Bloomfield, N.J./Bloomfield), as both righthanders collected victories this afternoon.
Game 1: NJCU 7, Ramapo 6
Getting the nod on the mound in game one for NJCU was the knuckleballer Tannucilli, who proceeded to toss 7.0 quality innings, while surrendering only two earned runs (six total) and punching out a career-high-tying eight batters.
Ramapo (13-19-1, 5-9 NJAC) got the ballgame started by notching the first run of the afternoon in the top half of the first. Responding right back, the Green and Gold exploded for four runs in the bottom half, giving the squad an early 4-1 lead. Two free passes and a rocket to center field by sophomore second baseman Ali Pompey (Belle Meade, N.J./Trenton Catholic) loaded the bases up for freshman Matt Kaliske (Forked River, N.J./Lacey Township). The first baseman took one for the team, wearing a pitch on the shoulder to tie it up at 1-1. Junior third baseman Jimmy Vizzoni (Hamilton, N.J./Trenton Catholic) followed up the free-pass by collecting his 27th RBI of the season on a bunt-single. Following a sacrifice fly by freshman catcher Nick Vaughn (Ocean Township, N.J./Ocean Township), sophomore shortstop Justin Moreno (Brooklyn, N.Y./Trenton Catholic) capped off the first inning rally by knocking in Kaliske on a double down the left field line.
After the Roadrunners early damage, the knuckleballer for NJCU would settle down over the next three innings, surrendering only three hits, striking out four and not allowing any runs. Leading off the bottom half of the fifth was senior centerfielder Ricky Voss (Eatontown, N.J./Monmouth Regional), who extended his on-base streak to 13 games by launching his team-high eighth homerun of the season to give NJCU the 6-2 lead. A 1-2-3 inning by Tannucilli in the sixth gave the bats right back to the Gothic Knights in the home half and Hernandez gave his starting pitcher another run via sacrifice fly.
The road team made the most of the exit by Tannucilli in the seventh by scoring two runs. Ramapo also knocked in two runs in the following inning, and had the game-tying run just 90 feet from home with two outs in the eighth. Looking to lock down the lead with the bases loaded, head coach Jerry Smith went to his arm with the lowest ERA on the team (1.50) and the starting rightifleder, Hernandez. In his fifth appearance of the year, the reliever preserved the lead by getting a Ramapo pop-up to end the inning, and ultimately collected his first-career save to secure the 7-6 NJAC victory.
Game 2: NJCU 12, Ramapo 7
This clash started very similar to game one, with Ramapo scoring first by bringing in four runs in the first two innings. Again, NJCU responded, but this time the squad erupted for seven runs, taking a 7-4 lead in bottom of the second. The explosion was ignited by back-to-back knocks by Kaliske and Pompey, and a worn pitch by Moreno to load the bases with no outs for the bottom of the Jersey City lineup — and they did damage. Vaughn drew a RBI walk and junior leftfielder Caleb Ware (Newark, N.J./University) knocked in two runs on a screamer to left to give the squad its first runs of the game. A few batters later, Leslie joined in by tying the game on single to the opposite the field, tying the game at 4-4. Kaliske also added a RBI single and two more NJCU runners came home to take the three run lead. In the next inning, Ware came back to the plate and launched his first-career homerun over the left field fence. The speedster finished his second game going 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base.
Dean was handed the ball this afternoon to make his team-leading seventh start of the season. The righthander struggled early, but similar to Tannucilli, Dean settled in just fine and finished his afternoon going 5.0 strong innings, only allowing four earned runs and striking out three. After the freshman limited the Roadrunner offense in the third and fourth to no runs, the road team came back to drop three over the next two innings to cut the deficit to one. After the strong Gothic faithful fans stretched in the cold afternoon seventh, the Gothic Knight bats started to heat up by scoring three runs in the inning to take an 11-7 lead. Beginning the rally and collecting his first hit of the afternoon was junior rightfielder David Duran (Kearny, N.J./Kearny). NJCU was handed two free bases to Hernandez and Vizzoni to load the bases for the best hitter in the Jersey City lineup. Voss, hitting a team-high .401, put the game out of reach by extending his on-base streak to 14 games with a RBI knock.
Finishing the final 4.0 innings on the mound for the Green and Gold was Hernandez and the righthander continued his dominance from game one, not allowing any earned runs (one run total) and punching out three batters to lock up the 12-7 NJAC victory.
Up Next:
NJCU looks to continue its hot-streak as the squad heads to Long Island this Tuesday, April 26, to take on the St. Joesph's College-L.I. Golden Eagles in a non-conference doubleheader. First pitch is set for 4:00 p.m.