Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College baseball team split with NJAC rival Richard Stockton College today, 5-6 and 8-1. The Roadrunners stand at 13-3 overall 1-1 in the conference while the Ospreys fall to 15-5, 1-1 in the NJAC.
Stockton held off a late rally in the ninth by Ramapo to hold on for a 6-5 win in game one as John Lightbody earned his tenth save of the season. The Ospreys scored one run in the first and fourth innings before Ramapo got on the board to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Christian Spurr led off the inning with a single to left field before Matthew Hanncock reached on a fielder's choice; both runners moved up a base when Dan Moreno put down a perfect sacrifice bunt and with the infield in Dan Mauriello ripped a single to centerfield, plating both runs, 2-2.
The Ospreys scored two runs in the sixth inning to take a 4-2 lead, one run scored on a wild pitch while the other was driven in on an RBI single to center field. Ramapo got one back in the bottom of the sixth inning when Moreno ripped a home run over the left field wall, 4-3. Jason Gordon drove in Mike Bush from third base on a single to center field to take a 5-3 lead for Stockton.
In the bottom of the seventh for Ramapo, Lee Rozins led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch before he crossed home plate on Knox's single to right field to come within one run, 5-4. Stockton scored the eventual winning run in the eighth on a bases loaded walk by Gordon to take a 6-4 lead. Ramapo would make it interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Nick DiGirolamo and Spurr slammed back to back doubles to come within one run, 6-5, before Ramapo would load the bases with no outs. The Osprey's shut the door on the Ramapo rally as Lightbody recorded a strikeout and two fly outs to end the game.
The Osprey's starting pitcher Drew Holt raised his record to 4-0 as he struck out five over 6.2 innings of work.
Moreno finished the game 3-3 while Spurr was 3-4 with one run scored and one RBI. Knox was 2-4 with one RBI and Rozins was 3-4 with one run scored. Reliever Tim Hannes took the loss for Ramapo as he surrendered two runs over two innings of work. Starting pitcher Travis Zilg recorded the no decision as he struck out three over 5.1 innings of work.
In game two, Ramapo ripped 14 hits to score eight runs as starting pitcher PJ Cerretto pitched a complete game five-hitter. Cerretto (4-0) struck out nine while not giving up an earned run in the win.
Ramapo scored one run in the bottom of the first inning when Spurr knocked in Knox with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field. Knox reached on a lead off single to center field. Stockton scored their lone run in the third inning when a ball was misplayed in the outfield allowing a run to cross the plate and tie the game, 1-1.
In the third inning, Ramapo scored two runs on three hits to take a 3-1 lead. Hancock recorded a RBI on an infield ground out as DiGirolamo scored from third base, he reached base on a lead off single. Moreno then drove in Spurr with a double down the left field line to pick up the RBI. The Roadrunners added one run in the fifth and two runs in the seventh to take a 6-1, highlighted by bases loaded single to right field by Knox as Rob Dimperio and Driscoll scored. In the eighth they added two more runs to take a 8-1 lead before Cerreto recorded a pop fly and two strike outs to end the game and the win for Ramapo.
Knox finished the game 3-4 with one run scored and two RBI while Moreno was 3-4 with two runs scored and one RBI and Dimperio was 2-3 with two RBI. Driscoll finished 2-5 with one run scored and one RBI.
The Roadrunners return to action when they host John Jay College on Tuesday, April 5th at 3:30 PM.