JERSEY CITY, N.J. (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Ramapo College (17-11, 3-5 NJAC) posted nine runs in the middle innings to break open a 2-1 game and earned a series split with the New Jersey City University baseball team (14-9, 4-4 NJAC), 13-2, on April 13 at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex. Each team won on the other's field after NJCU won the opener of the New Jersey Athletic Conference home-and-home series, 6-2, on April 12 in Mahwah.
 
Ramapo outhit NJCU, 14-5, and led 11-1 after the middle-inning blitz. RCNJ received a solid pitching performance by senior left-handed pitcher Jerry D'Andrea (Ridgewood, N.J.) who struck out nine and walked two in 7.0 innings before leaving after 129 pitches. He allowed two runs and five hits. Freshman right-handed pitcher Riley Weis (River Vale, N.J.) struck out four of the six batters he faced in two perfect relief innings.
 
Offensively, senior center fielder Bobby Shannon (Flanders, N.J.) was 3-for-3 with two walks and scored four of the five times he was on base. Senior shortstop Austin Unglaub (Sparta, N.J.) batted 2-for-5 with two runs and a walk and senior right fielder Matt Chemis (Sparta, N.J.) was 3-for-5 with one RBI. The first three Roadrunner runs all came in on sac flies.
 
Also for Ramapo, freshman left fielder Anthony Kuzmenko (Green Brook, N.J.), senior center fielder Joe Maugeri (Flanders, N.J.), junior catcher Nick Camilleri (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.) and junior third baseman Vincenzo Sita (Bayonne, N.J.) each produced two RBIs. Maugeri had perhaps the most important hit of the day—a two-run homer to left as part of a four-run fifth inning that elevated the lead to 7-1. Senior first baseman Connor Walsh (Waldwick, N.J.) scored three times.
 
Two players accounted for all of NJCU's hits. Junior shortstop Nick LoGatto (Helmetta, NJ/Spotswood) was 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Sophomore left fielder Bill Feehan (Point Pleasant, NJ/Point Pleasant Boro) batted 2-for-3.
 
Sophomore first baseman Lenin Gomez (Edison, NJ/Edison) did not reach base in two plate appearances before leaving the game and saw his active 23-game on-base streak dating to the end of the 2017 season snapped. Junior second baseman Tom Pulcine (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan) was hit by a pitch to extend an active 20-game on-base streak.
 
Sophomore lefty Anthony Zicaro (Linden, NJ/Linden), the first of four NJCU pitchers, suffered the loss (2-2), allowing three earned runs and four hits in 4.0 innings.
 
KEY MOMENTS:

• Unglaub led off the game with a triple to left on the first pitch of the game before scoring on a sac fly by Kuzmenko.
• In the bottom of the inning, LoGatto hit a ground-rule double to left that nearly cleared the fence, stole third for his 13th steal in 13 tries and scored on a groundout by senior third baseman Dan Berardi for his 26th RBI.
• In the second, RCNJ moved back in front, 2-1. Shannon led off with a walk, was sacrificed to second, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a sac fly by Camilleri.
• Chemis led off the third with a double down the left field line but was stranded there. With one out in the third, LoGatto doubled to the gap in left center, but was also stranded on second.
• Trouble arose in the top of the fourth. Walsh was hit by a pitch, Shannon singled and Sita walked to load the bases. Camilleri hit another sac fly to left on a line drive. With one out, Zicaro had Shannon out at third caught stealing but threw the ball away, allowing him to score, and a single up the middle by Chemis continued the inning and made it 5-1. The final two runs were both impacted by the error.
• Feehan doubled with two outs in the fourth but NJCU couldn't bring him in.
• Four runs in the top of the fifth largely put the game away. Unglaub hit a chopper to third and was ruled safe after colliding with Gomez at first. Two batters later, Maugeri hit a homer over the left field fence. Walsh was hit by a pitch and Shannon walked. After sophomore right fielder Juan Pena (Perth Amboy, NJ/Perth Amboy) made a homer-robbing catch at the fence, the next fly to center was dropped and that error allowed two more runs to come in.
• RCNJ also scored twice in the sixth and ninth innings. NJCU got a run back in the home seventh on a two-out RBI single by LoGatto.

 
NOTABLES:

• Mike Ramirez (Old Bridge, NJ/Saint Joseph-Metuchen) has an active 17-game on-base streak.
• Dan Berardi (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) had his active 13-game on-base streak snapped.

 
UP NEXT:

• NJCU heads to Galloway, N.J. for a road NJAC doubleheader on Saturday, April 14 (11:30 a.m.) against Stockton University (5-15, 2-6 NJAC).

 
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