BOX SCORE
UNION, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University nearly pulled off the biggest upset in Division III baseball this season as sophomore right-hander WENDELL RODRIGUEZ (Jersey City, NJ/County Prep) limited #3 ranked Kean University to only four hits, including just one through seven innings, before the Cougars plated one run in the eighth inning to edge the Gothic Knights, 1-0, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game on Thursday at Jim Hynes Stadium.
It was the first game of a two-day, home-and-home series and Kean, the defending NJAC champions, improved to 23-4 overall and 6-1 in the league. Kean is ranked No. 3 nationally in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA)/D3baseball.com and ABCA Coaches Polls. NJCU fell to 5-19, 1-6 NJAC with the setbacks.
In a classic pitchers' duel, between Rodriguez and Kean senior righty Joe Bartlinski (South Amboy, NJ/South Amboy), the NJCU sophomore allowed just one run and four hits with five strikeouts and no walks in a complete-game, 107-pitch effort. It was the second consecutive week that Rodriguez (1-5) pitched brilliantly in a road conference game, only to lose in the final innings.
Bartlinski needed 126 pitches in his complete-game shutout victory, improving to 3-1 with 11 strikeouts and one walk, allowing four hits in 9.0 innings.
Kean scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out, junior catcher Eddie Jennings (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) doubled and freshman shortstop Tyler Smarslok (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Liberty) advanced pinch-runner Joe O'Connor (Wharton, NJ/Morris Hills) with a single to right center. Freshman center fielder Shane Alvarez (Franklin, NJ/St. Joseph (Metuchen), who entered the game one inning before, then drove in the game's only run with an RBI single to left center.
In a game in which neither school had a player with multiple hits, NJCU's best scoring opportunity came in the top of the seventh as senior first baseman MICHAEL FIORENTINO (Point Pleasant Beach, NJ/Point Pleasant Beach) just missed a homerun to left field as it hit off the top of the fence for a standup double with two outs. Senior designated hitter JORDAN TETRICK (Delray Beach, FL/Radnor (Pa.)) then worked a walk—the only one of the game for either school—giving the Knights runners at first and second. But Bartlinski was able to strike out sophomore left fielder ANDREW RIVERA (Edison, NJ/Edison) to end the threat.
Kean also had a chance to score in the fifth, moving a runner to third base before Rodriguez stranded two Cougars on the bags.
Bartlinski, who has 25 strikeouts and one walk in his last two outings, both complete game wins, ended the game by forcing a groundout and two strikeouts in the top of the ninth inning.
The two clubs will be back in action on Friday (April 15) at 3:30 p.m. in the second game of the series, as it moves to Jersey City and NJCU's Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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Thursday, April 14, 2011 | Union, NJ
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New Jersey City University (5-19, 1-6 NJAC)
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#3 Kean University (23-4, 6-1 NJAC)
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