Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College baseball team split a NJAC conference double header today at Jeff Maund field against the College of New Jersey. The Roadrunners took game one 7-2 before the #6/14 ranked Lions came back to take game two, 6-3. Ramapo now stands at 11-9 overall, 3-2 in the conference while TCNJ moves to 16-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference.
 
Game One
The Roadrunners scored one run in the first and second inning before they tacked on three in the bottom of the third. With one out in the first inning Anthony Kuzmenko doubled to straight away center field before he moved to third on a ground out. Kuzmenko then scored on a wild pitch for the early 1-0 lead.
 
Philip Mahlik singled to lead off the second before Vincent Timpanelli was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. They pair pulled a double steal before Kellen Hardy walked to load the bases for Kyle Lisa. Lisa lifted a sac fly to right field allowing Mahlik to score, 2-0.
 
In the third inning, Kuzmenko poked a single to right-center and moved to second on an infield ground out before Vincenzo Sita laced a hard-hit single back up the middle to pick up the RBI, 3-0. Sita moved to second on a wild pitch before he scored on Timpanelli's double down the left field line for the 4-0 lead. Nick Camilleri then brought Timpanelli home with a single to center field to extend the lead, 5-0. Ramapo added single runs in the fifth and seventh innings to push the score to, 7-0.  Timpanelli recorded an RBI double to right-center field which plated Mahlik in the fifth before Camilleri singled home Sita in the seventh.
 
TCNJ would get on the board in the top of the eighth inning with two outs when Tommy McCarthy recorded his first home run of the season, a two-run shot over the right field wall, 2-7. Jeff Millet came into the game in relief of Ramapo starting pitcher Kevin Stewart with two outs in the seventh. Millet would hold the Lions the remainder of the game as Ramapo handed TCNJ their first conference loss of the year. Stewart moved to 3-0 in the win as he recorded ten strikeouts in 7.2 innings of work while he surrendered seven hits and two runs.
 
Ramapo pounded out 15 hits in the game including four extra base hits. Mahlik finished 3-4 with two runs scored while Kuzmenko, Sita, Timpanelli and Camilleri all collected two hits each.
 
Game Two
The Roadrunners once again scored early with one run in the bottom of the first inning. Liam Duffy plated Nick Cuba with an RBI sac fly to put Ramapo up 1-0.
 
TCNJ tied the game in the top of the third inning with a run of their own. Jacob Simon plated Avery Epstein with a sac fly to center field, 1-1. Ramapo added two runs in the bottom half of the inning to retake the lead, 3-1. Cuba laced a double down the left field line allowing Lisa to score before Duffy plated Cuba with an RBI ground out for the two-run lead.
 
Single runs from the Lions in the top of the fourth and seventh innings would tie the game 3-3 before they added three runs in the eighth to take the 6-3 lead. To tie the game in the seventh, Gary Otten singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Fischer's double down the right field line for the 3-3 tie game. In the eighth, Danny Borup reached on an error that allowed him to advance all the way to third to lead off the inning before a double from David Cardona drove him home for to take a 4-3 lead. Otten drove home Cardona with a hard-hit single to left field before Ryan Fischer made it 6-3 with a single to right field plating McCarthy.
 
The Roadrunners recorded one hit in their final two at-bats and TCNJ came away with the three-run road victory, 6-3. Michael Walley (3-0) earned the win on the mound for the Lions with three strikeouts and two walks in eight innings of work. He allowed six Ramapo hits and three runs scored. Zac deRocco earned the save with two strikeouts as he faced the minimum in the ninth inning.  
 
Riley Weis (1-2) took the loss for Ramapo in relief. He surrendered four hits and three unearned runs in one inning of action. CJ Growney worked the first 6.1 innings for the Roadrunners, he struck out three, walked one and scattered five hits while letting up three runs.  Cuba led the Roadrunners at the plate finishing 2-4 with two runs scored and one RBI.
 
Ramapo returns to action on Monday, April 6th when they travel to William Paterson University for a NJAC game at 3:30pm.