JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University baseball team, serving officially as the road team for a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) doubleheader on Saturday, April 10, faced off for a pair with Rutgers-Camden at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex. Despite taking early leads in both games on the day, the Gothic Knights were unable to hold one and fell to the Scarlet Raptors twice, first 5-2 and then 17-5.
Game 1
Making his return to the mound for NJCU (3-14, 1-5 NJAC) was junior righthander
Paul Tannucilli (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge). The knuckleballer what 5.1 innings in the start, allowing four earned on eight hits with four strikeouts. Freshman
Nick Chiappisi (Toms River, N.J./Manchester Township) entered in relief and tossed a scoreless final 2.2 innings. He allowed just one baserunner, a hit batsman, over that time without giving up a hit.
The Gothic Knights took the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first in this one. Junior
Leo Colon (Carteret, N.J./St. Anthony (Jersey City)) led off with a walk. He then proceeded to steal second and an errant throw by the Rutgers-Camden (5-7, 4-2 NJAC) first baseman allowed him to take third as well. Chiappisi then flied out to center for the RBI to plate Colon. The Scarlet Raptors answered in the home half of the second inning with a leadoff homer and later, a two-out, two-run single to make it 3-1. NJCU was never able to make up the difference.
Trailing 5-1 in the top of the eighth, the Gothic Knights did get one back. Chiappisi led off with a single and then stole second and eventually made it to third thanks to a single from senior
Brandon Rivera (Aberdeen, N.J./Matawan Regional). Junior
Ricky Voss (Eatontown, N.J./Monmouth Regional) collected the RBI in the next at-bat, reaching on a fielder's choice to close out the scoring in game one.
Game 2
With two outs in the top of the first, the Gothic Knights took the lead early. Rivera reached on a infield single and moved to second with a walk for Voss. Senior
Juan Pena (Perth Amboy, N.J./Perth Amboy) plated his classmate with a RBI single up the middle. The Scarlet Raptors tied up in the next half inning before putting up a seven-spot in the bottom of the third to take an 8-1 lead. Voss did strike back in the top half of the fourth with a lead-off solo shot — his team-leading third of the year — but Rutgers-Camden scored twice in the next half inning.
Trailing 15-2 entering the seventh, Chiappisi continued his strong day with the first home run of his collegiate career, a two-out, two-run shot to left. NJCU got one more run across in the top of the eighth with a two-out, bases loaded RBI walk for freshman
Ricky Tuero (West New York, N.J./Memorial).
What's Next
The Gothic Knights once again faceoff with William Paterson University, now ranked #23 in the nation (d3baseball.com/NCBWA), for their next two games. NJCU and the Pioneers first square off in Wayne, N.J., for one game on Thursday, April 15 at 3:30 p.m. WPU then comes to The Gerrity on Friday, April 16, at 3:30 p.m.
