Mahwah, NJ: The Ramapo College baseball team and #23 Montclair State University split the NJAC season opener this afternoon at Jeff Maund Field. The Roadrunners took game one 7-3 win while the Red Hawks held off a Ramapo comeback with a 10-6 win in game two. The Roadrunners move to 11-8 overall and 1-1 in the NJAC and the Red Hawks now stand at 18-4 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Game 1
With the score tied at three,
Zach Novakowski laced a single up the middle which plated
Matt Lalomia as Ramapo took a 4-3 lead in the sixth. In the eight, Zach Bailey drew a bases loaded walk to allow Lalomia to once again score, 5-3.
John Higgins then drove in two RBI with a hard hit single as
Tyler Guadagno and
TJ Roman came around to score, 7-3.
Jack Martin (3-1) struck out nine in seven innings of work while only walking one. He surrendered seven hits and three runs.
Gerard Chiricolo let up just one hit in 0.2 innings of work while
Will Paoli struck out one and surrendered just one hit as he worked the final 1.1 innings.
Game 2
Ramapo opened up a 3-0 lead in the second when
Jack Tallent drove home Higgins with an RBI double before
Jesse Swartout drove in Lalomia with an RBI single. Will Enger was able to score on the play following a throwing error from the outfield from MSU, 3-0. The Red Hawks tied the game in the third with three runs before Bailey drilled a triple to left field which allowed
Robert Klawans to score for a 4-3 lead. Montclair Statethen scored four unearned runs in the fourth and one run in the fifth for an 8-4 lead. Ramapo would cut the lead to two in the fifth with two runs of their own. Tallent drove in Bailey with an RBI single before Higgin scored on an RBI fielder's choice from Lalomia, 6-8. The Red Hawks tacked on single runs in the sixth and eighth innings to extend their lead, 10-6. Ramapo would not score the remainder of the game as MSU came away with the win.
Nick Danbrowney (2-1) took the loss, surrendering seven runs (three earned) while letting up just five hits in four innings of work. Tallent finished game two 4-4 at the plate with two RBI while Higgins and Lalomia each collected two hits in the game.
Ramapo returns to action on Tuesday, April 2nd when they travel to St. Joseph's University – Long Island for a non-conference game at 3:30 PM.
