JERSEY CITY, NJ…Six
New Jersey City University players recorded multiple hits, including junior shortstop
JOSE FULGENCIO (Bronx, NY/San Rafael, Dominican Republic) who extended his hitting streak to 14 games, and the Gothic Knights took advantage of seven opposing errors, as NJCU defeated United States Merchant Marine Academy, 11-5, in a non-conference baseball game at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex.
NJCU snaps a four-game losing streak by notching 14 hits, to improve to 11-13 overall. USMMA falls to 6-15. In nine innings, NJCU only stranded five runners and was 5-for-7 as a team with a runner on third.
Fulgencio was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs, while junior centerfielder
ROB SUMNER (Union, NJ/Union) was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs. Junior second baseman
ANDREW DECIBUS (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) was 2-for-3 with two triples, one run and one RBI.
Also for the Knights, junior third baseman
RYAN PELT (Branchville, NJ/High Point Regional) scored twice and had a triple in a 2-for-4 showing. Junior rightfielder
ANTHONY CACCHIOLA (Union, NJ/Union) was 2-for-4, and junior first baseman
RUBEN BORGES (Union, NJ/Union) added a 2-for-5, one-run outing.
USMMA was limited to seven hits, and the only visitor with multiple hits was junior first baseman Brad Rackoce, who was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.
For NJCU, freshman left-hander
JONATHAN GOMEZ (Jersey City, NJ/St. Mary’s, Jersey City) evened his record at 2-2 overall. In five innings, he allowed just three earned runs and four hits, with a walk and strikeout.
NJCU received three effective bullpen displays. Senior lefty
MIKE ESPIN (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield) allowed just a lone single and one walk in 2.0 innings of work. Rookie right-hander
JOSEPH OLMO (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) allowed one earned runs (two total) without a hit in one inning, striking out one and walking two. Junior righty
RAMADAN MEHMEDI (Sparta, NJ/Sparta) tossed the ninth inning, fanning one, with two hits allowed.
Freshman 6-foot-9 righty Keith Heine took the loss (2-3). In 7.1 innings, he allowed all 11 runs, six of which were earned and 14 hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.
NJCU scored at least one run in every inning other than the fourth and seventh. Fulgencio’s first inning sacrifice fly put NJCU up 1-0, before Decibus, who led off with a triple, scored on another sac fly in the second. An RBI triple by Decibus capped a three-run third inning, and made it 5-0.
USMMA closed to within 5-3 with three runs in the fifth, including two tallies on an RBI double by Rackoce. But NJCU added a run in the fifth on a Mariner error, and Sumner had a run-scoring ground out for his 30th RBI of the season and a 7-3 advantage. NJCU capped the game with four runs in the home eighth inning. Sumner singled with his 31st RBI, and Fulgencio laced a double for his 27th RBI, before the Knights added its final two runs on an error.
NJCU returns to action on Tuesday, April 10 at 3:30 p.m. with a non-conference game at Lehman College in Bronx, NY. USMMA plays April 11 at home against FDU-Florham.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
