Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College baseball team fell short, 8-5 in their home opener against the Bloodhounds of John Jay College today. With the loss the Roadrunners fall to 8-5 overall while the Bloodhounds improve to 4-8.

In the top of the second inning, John Jay's Steven Roman (Middletown, NY) drew a bases loaded walk with one out to take a 1-0 lead. Edwin Hernandez (Brooklyn, NY) recorded a sacrifice fly to center field to go up, 2-0 before the Roadrunners recorded the third out.

Ramapo got one back in the bottom half of the inning when Dave Deredita (Clark, NJ) singled home Skyler Conte (Kinnelon, NJ) who reached on a single to start off the inning.

John Jay scored one more in the fourth inning before Ramapo tacked on one in the fifth inning. Senior Nick Sbarra (Washington Twp., NJ) reached base on a bunt single then stole second before sophomore Joey Cacchiola (Union, NJ) drove him in with a single to centerfield to come within one, 3-2.

Jorge Rosado (Dominican Republic) ripped a two RBI triple with two outs in the eighth to extend the Bloodhounds lead, 5-2. John Jay picked up one run when the Ramapo defense made an error in the infield before Johan Abad (Corona, NY) drove a single into left field to plate two more runs to widen the gap to, 8-2.

The Roadrunners got one back in the eighth when Cacchiola beat out an infield single and scored when Mike Manges (Glen Rock, NJ) recorded a ground out to second base.

With two outs and two on in the ninth inning, Cacchiola ripped a single to right field to plate two more Roadrunner runs before John Jay struck out the final batter earning the 8-5 victory over Ramapo.

Cacchiola went 4-5 with one run and three RBI while Sbarra scored two of his own. Conte hit 3-3 with one run and Manges and Deredita each drove in a run of their own. Rosado led the Bloodhounds hitting 3-6 with one run and three RBI while Hernandez and Abad went 1-4 with two runs and one RBI and one run and two RBI respectively.

With four strikeouts in 7.2 innings pitched, John Massoni (Staten Island, NY) earns the win for the Bloodhounds. Massoni let up 11 hits and three runs, all earned, while walking only one.

Antonio Imbimbo (Wayne, NJ) recorded the loss pitching 2.1 innings letting up three hits and two runs, all earned. Imbimbo falls to 0-2 on the year.

Ramapo returns to action on Saturday, March 22nd when they face off in a double-header match-up with Farmingdale State at noon.