New Jersey City University Athletics

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LAKELAND, FL (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University scored six times in the bottom of the eighth inning to erase an 8-4 deficit in a game in which the Gothic Knights committed seven errors but persevered, tying the game with a two-run double by freshman third baseman JUAN CRUZ (Jersey City, NJ/St. Mary's (Jersey City)) before a two-run single by sophomore second baseman ROB ROMAN (Hoboken, NJ/Saint Joseph of the Palisades) provided the go-ahead margin as NJCU overcame Mount Saint Mary College(NY), 10-8, in the fifth game of the 2012 spring baseball trip played at Lake Bonny Park Field #2 on Thursday afternoon.
 
First year shortstop MICHAEL MARTUCCI (Bayonne, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) led a contingent of four NJCU players with at least three hits, batting 5-for-5 with three doubles and two runs scored and freshman first baseman  ALEX WEINSTEIN (Colonia, NJ/JFK-Iselin) drove in three runs, batting 3-for-4 with two runs and a two-run homerun.
 
NJCU improved to 4-2 overall and 4-1 on its eight-day stay at the Russ Matt College Spring Break Invitational while sending Mount Saint Mary (6-5) to the loss after the Blue Knights led by an 8-3 margin thru the top of the sixth inning. After six games, NJCU has a team batting average of .316 and an ERA of 2.77 while its opponents are hitting just .210.
 
NJCU's seven errors are the most since committing nine at Rutgers-Camden on April 25, 2009. No Gothic Knight team had won a game when committing seven errors since game-by-game computerized stats were first tracked during the 2000 season. Mount Saint Mary stranded 15 runners in the nine-inning game; NJCU left 11 men on.
 
Martucci's three doubles are the most in a game since FRANCISCO RAMIREZ (Jersey City, NJ/Hudson Catholic) had four at College of Staten Island on March 24, 2010. Junior designated hitter RYAN WINTERS (Hackettstown, NJ/Hackettstown) extended his hit streak to five games by batting 3-for-4 with one run while Cruz, who entered the day with just one collegiate hit, batted 3-for-5 with two RBIs and one run. Junior center fielder MICHAEL PATTERSON (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and one run.
 
Junior ORLANDO BOLANO (Hoboken, NJ/Hoboken) made his first pitching appearance of his NJCU career and earned the win (1-0) in dominant fashion, shutting the door on Mount Saint Mary by allowing one hit and no runs in 2.1 innings of  work. He tossed 53 pitches, striking out three versus one walk.
 
Junior right-hander WENDELL RODRIGUEZ (Ponce, Puerto Rico/County Prep), NJCU's winning starter on Monday in a 10-1 rout of 2011 NCAA qualifier Rhode Island College, earned his first career save in an 18-pitch ninth inning, facing just four hitters with one strikeout and one hit. Senior NELSON MALDONADO (Newark, NJ/St. Mary's (Jersey City)) took the no decision in his second start of the year, allowing five earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and five walks in 5.2 innings.
 
“We're trying to engrain in our players the one pitch at a time mentality and I believe we're starting to buy into that,” said first-year head coach Jerry Smith about the come-from-behind victory. “We're not going to continue looking at the scoreboard and the only thing we can control is the next pitch. I think there was a belief in our kids that they were not out of it until the last out was recorded.”
 
MSMC used five pitchers. The third to see action was sophomore righty Mike Klein (Elmont, NY) who took the loss (0-1), allowing five earned runs on five hits in 2.0 innings with three walks and one strikeout. Sophomore lefty Zach Kenny (Hicksville, NY) inherited the bases loaded in the eighth and all three players scored.
 
NJCU outhit Mount Saint Mary, 18-10. Junior designated hitter Michael Morelli (Washingtonville, NY) scored three runs, batting 2-for-5 with a solo homerun. Junior shortstop Michael Matuk (Poughkeepsie, NY) scored twice and hit his second homerun of the season in the first inning. Senior first baseman John Conroy (Middletown, NY) and sophomore center fielder Vinnie Carminati (Huntington, NY) each had two hits and Carminati provided a two-RBI triple.
 
In the decisive eighth inning, NJCU scored six times on six hits as 10 batters came to the plate. Junior PETE SENYSZYN (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) led off with a pinch-hit bunt single down the third baseline and Martucci scorched a double down the left field line before Patterson walked to load the bases and a single up the middle by Weinstein drove in the fifth run.
 
After a pitching change, NJCU struck out. Winters followed with a bloop single to shallow right field that brought home Martucci, loading the bags again. Cruz ripped a 2-2 pitch over the head of the MSMC left fielder for his first career extra base hit and the double tied the game at 8-8 before Roman came to the plate and laced a two-run single to center, scoring pinch runner DELIO COUTINHO (Colonia, NJ/Colonia) and Cruz with the go-ahead runs for the improbable 10-8 edge. Freshman lefty Brandon Lubrano (Mineola, NY) entered in relief and retired the final two batters.
 
In the ninth, Matuk grounded a ball to third before rookie third baseman STEFAN SEGUEN (North Bergen, NJ/Hudson Catholic) made a brilliant defensive play for the first out after he entered the game in the eighth inning and Rodriguez struck out Morelli, who had homered earlier in the game, representing the tying run after Conroy singled with one out. Rodriguez coerced a groundout to second to seal the win.
 
MSMC had jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning when Matuk homered to left field, Carminati tripled to left center for two more runs and a 3-0 lead before Carminati scored when an infield pop fly fell between the pitcher and catcher untouched. NJCU cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first when Martucci doubled to left center and scored when Weinstein crushed the first pitch he saw over the left field fence. It was NJCU's first round-tripper of the season.
 
MSMC extended the lead to 5-2 when Morelli hit a solo homer to lead off the third and added a sixth run in the top of the fourth after Roman committed a pair of errors. NJCU collected three hits in the bottom of the fourth, including a Martucci double, and a Patterson sacrifice fly made it a 6-3 deficit.
 
Bolano entered with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth after two NJCU errors kept the inning alive and allowed the Blue Knights to score a pair of unearned runs, including a bases loaded walk after MSMC had been given two extra outs to play with against Maldonado. Bolano coaxed a 3-1 pitch into a lineout to strand the bases full and he struck out two MSMC players in the seventh, leaving two men on.
 
“I think there were a lot of lessons to be learned into today's game,” Smith summarized. “Number one is you're never out of a game. Today we happened to be behind and managed to catch up. In other games we might be ahead and must maintain the lead. As far as the seven errors, I felt we weren't focused right when we got off the vans in batting practice, during infield and outfield [in the pre-game] and I think that lack of focus and lack of discipline carried over to our focus on the field, which made us commit seven errors and some poor situational hitting early.”

NJCU will wake up early on Friday, March 16 for a drive to Auburndale, Fla. for a 9 a.m. doubleheader against Framingham State University (MA) at Lake Myrtle Park Field #3. Both games are seven innings and the live broadcast of that twinbill is slated to begin at 8:55 a.m.