New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score MAHWAH, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University scored three times in the top of the fifth to snap a 1-1 tie and added a pair of ninth-inning insurance runs as NJCU stayed alive in the New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament race with a 6-3 upset of Ramapo College in the opener of a two-day NJAC home-and-home series on April 24.
 
NJCU, which had dropped eight straight games with six of the defeats coming by two runs or less, snapped that skid, improving to 10-20 and 4-11 in the NJAC. NJCU, which must win its final four conference games and get some help, put a damper on Ramapo's playoff hopes (19-13-1, 5-9-1 NJAC). Each team had five hits in the game; Ramapo committed five errors.
 
Freshman left fielder

(Colonia, NJ/Colonia) threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning, including his 66^th strikeout in just 48.1 innings, to record his first save of the season and second of his career.
 
Ramapo junior righty Nicholas Thorgersen suffered his first loss of the season (3-1), allowing six runs—one earned—on seven hits in 8.1 innings with a pair of walks and strikeouts (112 pitches). Junior lefty Mark Doyle faced three batters in the ninth.
 
Shortstop Jose Garcia, the leadoff hitter, was the lone Roadrunner with multiple hits (2-for-4). Outfielder Scott Peschiani was 1-for-3 with two runs, a walk and RBI. Designated hitter Chris Werr walked twice.
 
NJCU got on the board in the first when Giordano doubled with two outs and scored on an RBI single to left by Martucci. Ramapo tied it in the bottom of the fourth when first baseman Ian Osterman led off with a triple to center and scored on a one-out single by Peschiani. A play at the plate on a wild pitch advance attempt resulted in the final out of the frame.
 
Tied 1-1, NJCU answered with three runs aided by three errors in the fifth. An RBI single by Giordano scored Buchholz who reached on a leadoff error. The third error of the inning allowed both Weinstein, who reached on a fielding miscue at third and Giordano, to cross the plate with the third and fourth runs. Both would have scored on a single by Martucci that followed.
 
After a bases-loaded double play erased a runner at the plate in the sixth, Peschiani, who had walked, scored on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 game. Peschiani reached on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the eighth and was plated on an RBI single by catcher Ryan Rinsky to make it a one-run game.
 
But NJCU, which has struggled in the final two innings of games, giving away leads in the eighth or ninth in each of its last three outings while holding an advantage, didn't let that happen again. Buchholz reached on a leadoff error and scored on an RBI triple to left center by Weinstein—just the second of his career. A squeeze bunt play by freshman third baseman TAYLOR BORN (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield) pushed across Weinstein with the sixth run before Coutinho polished off the Roadrunners in the bottom of the ninth.

The two teams finish the series on Friday, April 25 at 3:30 p.m. at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex in Jersey City in the final home game of the season.