UNION, N.J. — The New Jersey City University baseball team, playing against Kean University in a shifted around New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) doubleheader today, Thursday, April 29 — the two were scheduled to play one at NJCU today and one at the Cougars tomorrow, April 30 — dropped both ends of the twin bill on a rainy afternoon and evening at Jim Hynes Field.
Game 1
The Gothic Knights (4-22, 2-14 NJAC) mustered eight hits offensively in game one, but were unable to get a run across against the Cougars (15-10, 10-6 NJAC) over nine innings as Kean won 12-0. Sophomore
Justin Wiltsey (Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Hamilton West) got the nod to take the hill for NJCU in this one, and put in a pretty decent performance before being taken out after 4.0 innings. He allowed three earned (five total) on eight hits before being relieved by junior
Paul Tannucilli (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge), who tossed one scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.
Senior second baseman
Brandon Rivera (Aberdeen, N.J./Matawan Regional) continued his strong season at the plate in this one as he went 3-for-4 with a double. Junior catcher
Mitchell Leslie (Gibbstown, N.J./Gloucester Tech) went 2-for-4 with the bat as well to bring his hitting streak to eight, including at least two hits in the previous five games.
Game 2
This was a tough one for NJCU as the squad fell 16-2, notching a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning after officially serving as the home team. Rivera notched another hit — the first triple of his career — going 1-for-3 with a walk and is now on an eight-game hitting streak of his own. He has now recorded a hit in 24 of 27 games this season and has reached base safely at least once in all but one game. Junior first baseman
Ricky Voss (Eatontown, N.J./Monmouth Regional) was also 1-for-3 in this one.
Freshman
Ali Pompey (Belle Meade, N.J./Trenton Catholic) started on the bump for the Gothic Knights against the Cougars in game two, went 3.1 innings and allowed six earned with three strikeouts. Four relievers went the rest of the way for NJCU, combining for four earned runs over 4.2 innings. Juniors
Eddie Zarszynski (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) and
Luis Flores (Caguas, P.R./Jose Collazo Colon) pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, and neither allowed a run or a hit.
As mentioned, the Gothic Knights did scratch across a pair of runs in the eighth for the day's final runs. Freshman
Michael Gurzynski (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) led of with a walk, followed by a walk for fellow rookie
Justin Moreno (Brooklyn, N.Y./Trenton Catholic). Wiltsey then walked to load the bases with no outs. Then, with one out,
D.J. Dekis (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) grounded into a fielders choice to short for the RBI to score Gurzynski from third. Moreno also scored from second thanks to an error at first.
What's Next
The Gothic Knights close out their 2021 regular season this Saturday, May 1, when Rutgers-Newark comes to the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex in Jersey City, N.J. for a NJAC doubleheader. NJCU will celebrate Senior Day during the pregame ceremonies before getting started with game one's scheduled 11:30 a.m. first pitch.
Additionally, this doubleheader will decide who hosts the first round of the 2021 NJAC Tournament between the Gothic Knights and Scarlet Raiders, which is a scheduled single elimination game on Tuesday, May 4, at 3:30 p.m.
