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WINTER HAVEN, FL (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Sophomore left-hander ZACK MARKLE (Hoboken, NJ/Hoboken) allowed just two hits in 4.2 innings of relief to claim his first collegiate victory and four different Gothic Knights collected two RBIs as the New Jersey City University baseball team scored nine times in the sixth inning and rolled past Lesley University, 12-2, in a game called after seven innings on day four of the 2012 spring baseball trip played at Chain of Lakes Park Field #5 on Tuesday morning.

NJCU improved to 3-2 overall and 3-1 on its eight-day stay at the Russ Matt College Spring Break Invitational. NJCU also won back-to-back games for the first time this year with the win over the Lynx. It was NJCU's first-ever meeting with Lesley (1-4).
 
While NJCU scored nine unearned runs off of four Lesley errors, the Knight's pitching staff continues to perform, now with a .204 opposing batting average and an overall ERA of 2.30 after five games.
 
First-year head coach Jerry Smith said: “I'm happy with the way the boys are playing and it's all about getting better each day and I think we're doing that. I think we have a long way to go. But I think since game one when we opened up with Centenary until now we're a much better team already and that's only been about a week's work. If we continue to progress how we are, I think by season's end we'll be a much better team.”
 
Markle, who made 11 appearances in relief as a rookie in 2011 without a decision, and never threw more than 2.0 innings, more than doubled that length as a middle reliever on Tuesday. In 4.2 innings, he tossed only 52 pitches, allowing a pair of singles with one walk.
 
First year NJCU pitching coach Nick Cesare discussed Markle's performance by saying: “We tell our relievers that they have to come into the game ready to throw strikes. We ask that they're ready, knowing that there's going to be men on base when they come in. He did walk the first guy and walk a run in but after that he settled in, pounded the zone, attacked hitters, and that's all we can ask for out of our relief pitchers.”
 
Sophomore transfer RYAN MITCHELL (Colonia, NJ/Colonia) made his first appearance as a Gothic Knight, throwing the final two-thirds of an inning, striking out one batter over five pitches. Junior righty ALVIN CARRASCO (Jersey City, NJ/St. Mary's (Jersey City)) started for the Knights but was wild, walking five, hitting one batter and throwing a pair of wild pitches. He only allowed one hit but both runs in 1.2 innings before being relieved by Markle.
 
Offensively, freshman first baseman ALEX WEINSTEIN (Colonia, NJ/JFK-Iselin), junior left fielder ANDREW RIVERA (Edison, NJ/Edison), freshman third baseman JUAN CRUZ (Jersey City, NJ/St. Mary's (Jersey City)) and sophomore second baseman ROB ROMAN (Hoboken, NJ/Saint Joseph of the Palisades) each produced two RBIs in the win.
 
Rivera was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, one run and a double while Weinstein had a pair of sacrifice flies to generate runs, and scored once. Roman was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs. Cruz had a two-run single during the nine-run sixth for his first collegiate hit and also scored once.
 
Also for NJCU, junior catcher RYAN WINTERS (Hackettstown, NJ/Hackettstown) came in as a pinch hitter and finished batting 2-for-2 with two runs and one RBI. Winters tied a school record with two hits in the sixth inning.
 
Freshman shortstop MICHAEL MARTUCCI (Bayonne, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) and junior center fielder MICHAEL PATTERSON (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) each scored twice and had one hit in the one-two spot in the lineup.
 
Freshman lefty Ray Cohen (Coventry, CT) made his first career start for Lesley, and took the loss, giving up nine runs (three earned) and six hits in 5.2 innings. He walked two, hit three batters, and struck out two over 105 pitches. Junior righty Joseph Santos (Springfield, MA) allowed three hits and three unearned runs with a walk in a third of an inning. Lesley had three hits and no player tallied multiple hits.
 
“We came out a little bit flat, not only in the first couple of innings but even prior to that,” Smith noted. “Our BP [batting practice at 7 a.m.], our infield/outfield routine wasn't the same and you saw it coming. I think we got content and caught up with what we did yesterday [10-1 win over defending LEC champion Rhode Island College] and we thought it was just going to happen again today instead of remembering and learning from what happened and utilizing the same thing that got us there early in the game. We haven't been walking people. We walked people. We were hitting ground balls [previous wins]. We weren't hitting a lot of ground balls early on.”
 
NJCU, which won a game as the home team on the scoreboard for the first time this season, committed two errors in the first inning and Lesley scored the first run of the game on a wild pitch, but the run eventually was earned after Carrasco allowed a hit batter and a single before stranding two runners.
 
NJCU evened the game in the bottom of the inning when Martucci chopped a single to third base, advanced on a wild pitch, moved to third on a Patterson groundout and scored on a Weinstein sac fly to center. 
 
Lesley drew five walks in the second inning and scored its second run without the benefit of a hit for a 2-1 lead. Markle, who entered the game in relief, inheriting a bases loaded jam with two outs after an odd double play on an infield fly down the left field line. He walked the first batter on five pitches before leaving the bases loaded with a fly ball to right.
 
From there, Markle was magnificent, retiring 14 of the final 16 batters he faced in the game. After NJCU left two runners stranded in the second and fourth innings, the Knights made Markle the pitcher of record with two runs on three hits in the fifth inning to seize a 3-2 lead. Roman singled and moved to third on a single by Patterson before a sac fly by Weinstein, again on a ball ripped to center, tied the game at 2-2. Patterson scored the go-ahead run when Rivera lined a double down the left field line.
 
NJCU put the game away when 14 batters came to the plate in a wild sixth inning. NJCU scored nine runs on five hits and were aided by three Lesley errors. All nine runs came with two outs. Winters started the surge with a one-out pinch hit single up the middle. After a fly out retired the second out, the floodgates opened. A throwing error scored Winters and allowed Roman to reach before Martucci walked and Patterson was hit by a pitch to load the bags. Another throwing error at second base allowed Martucci and Roman to come home for a 6-2 lead before an infield single by Rivera scored Patterson with the seventh run, prompting a pitching change.
 
A hit batter reloaded the bases and Cruz deposited his first career hit through the left side of the infield, scoring Rivera and Weinstein for a 9-2 cushion. Winters followed with his second single of the inning for an RBI and Roman capped the scoring with a two-run single to left center as the lead swelled to 12-2. By tournament rule, the game was called after Lesley was retired in the top of the seventh and NJCU leading by 10.
 
“With leadoff men on I think we're a different team,” Smith said of the difference in the team in the last week. “It gives us the ability to be a little bit more aggressive. We had some concerns about getting runs home with two outs against Centenary in the opening game loss. During the last two games we had four RBIs yesterday with two outs and today we scored nine runs with two outs. Obviously some of them were unearned but nonetheless they're still runs with two outs. We're starting innings off and finishing innings and that's what we're trying to get them to do. We're trying to get them to play a complete game rather than just having spurts. Now we're starting to play all three outs. Now we just have to compile that into a whole game because today we only played a good inning. We need to play a good game.”
 
After an off day on Wednesday, NJCU plays game five of its trip on Thursday, March 15 at 12 p.m. against Mount Saint Mary College (NY) at Lake Bonny Park Field #2 in Lakeland, FL. The live broadcast of that game is slated to begin at 11:55 a.m.