WINTER HAVEN, FL (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Junior center fielder MICHAEL MARTUCCI (Bayonne, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) became the 36th member of the New Jersey City University 100-hit club and freshman left-hander KRIS FELLIN (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) pitched well in his NCAA debut but didn't get run support as the Gothic Knights dropped another close game, losing 2-0 to University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg on March 9 on the second game of the 2014 spring trip.
All four of NJCU's games have been decided by two or fewer runs and the run differential on the season is now -4 as the Knights dropped to 1-3. Pitt-Greensburg improved to 2-4. It was the 36th game decided by two or less runs in the last 81 played by the program. In a cleanly-played game, neither side committed an error.
"The amount of strides Mike [Martucci] has made both with maturity and his play in the two years he's been with us—he's done a 180," praised third-year head coach Jerry Smith, about the second player to collected 100 hits during his career [ANDREW RIVERA, 2013]. "The adjustments he makes within a game, and within an at bat, shows the maturity and strides he has made on the field. He's playing the best since he's been here and we're expecting bigger things from him. He's been very coachable, making the adjustments we're asking."
"It [100 career hits] is now an expectation we have in our program and with the youth [who have seen field time] it should be the normal, not the exception. Mike is one of those guys who is part of our foundation of what we're trying to do here."
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