GLASSBORO, N.J. — The New Jersey City University baseball team dropped a pair of New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) games on the road this afternoon, April 10, by a score of 16-3 and 13-4 to #6
(d3baseball.com/NCBWA) Rowan University. Originally, game-one of this matchup was supposed to take place on Thursday, April 7, at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex and game two on Friday, April 8, at Rowan, but weather and field conditions during the week pushed this NJAC doubleheader to Glassboro on Sunday. With this change, the Gothic Knights served as the home team in game two.
Game 1: Rowan 16, NJCU 3
On the mound for his first career start today in the Green and Gold (8-16, 0-5 NJAC) was junior
Ronnie Wallraff (Hillside, N.J./Hillside). The right-hander is no stranger to the mound, as he leads Jersey City in appearances this year (11). The Hillside native held the nationally-ranked Rowan (19-5, 6-1 NJAC) bats in check after the first inning, giving NJCU the chance to attack first. The Gothic Knights got to work in the top-half of the second inning, with the catching duo of freshman
Nick Vaughn (Ocean Township, N.J./Ocean Township) and senior
Mitchell Leslie (Gibbstown, N.J./Gloucester Tech) getting on to start the rally. Serving as the designating hitter for game one, Vaughn drew a walk and Leslie advanced him by scorching a base-hit. Following a sacrifice bunt by sophomore
Justin Moreno (Brooklyn, N.Y./Trenton Catholic), the designated hitter junior
Caleb Ware (Newark, N.J./University) continued his hot stretch with a base-hit to left, knocking Leslie in and giving NJCU an early 1-0 lead. With the speedster's 2-for-2 performance in game one, he is now hitting .400, including a .500 (6-for-12) average since moving to the starting lineup on April 5.
Over the next five innings, the Owl bats awakened, bringing in 14 runs to take the lead. Fast forwarding to the top-half of the eighth, head coach
Jerry Smith turned to his bench to give Jersey City some life and the Gothic Knight substitutions were ready to make the most of their opportunities. After Moreno collected his first hit of the afternoon to lead off, junior
Jon Taylor (Englewood, N.J./Dwight Morrow) came in to pinch-hit and the infielder drove Moreno in via double to the gap. Sophomore
David Duran (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) came into the game, as well, and did his job by bringing in Taylor on a fielders-choice. After a base-hit by junior
Josh Hernandez (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista Community), the Owls cut the Gothic Knight rally off, ultimately securing the 16-3 victory. Before the home squad closed the door on Jersey City in the ninth, sophomore
Ricky Tuero (West New York, N.J./Memorial) came into the game to pinch-hit for Leslie and collected his first-career double.
Game 2: Rowan 13, NJCU 4
Serving as the road team in game two, it was Rowan's turn to get on the bored first and the Owls did just that by dropping six runs in the first two innings. After freshman right-hander
Frank Shipman (Edison, N.J./Edison) got the final out in the second, it was the Gothic Knights turn to retaliate. The two-out rally was ignited by Leslie, who drew a free base, and following up his hot bat from the first game was Taylor, who drove in Leslie on a singe to put JC on the board. Moreno, who had five hits and five RBI in yesterdays NJAC doubleheader against Stockton University, proceeded with his scorching stretch by knocking Taylor on a single, as well, cutting the deficit to four funs.
Similar to game one, the Owl bats continued to mash the ball, mustering seven more runs throughout the remainder of the game to give the Owls a 13-2 lead. NJCU did fight back, as the squad did in game one, by scoring two runs during last licks. Vaughn started the bottom-half of the ninth with another walk, and capturing his second hit of the afternoon was Tuero, advancing Vaughn into scoring position. After Taylor wore a pitch for the team, the bases were juiced for Moreno and the shortstop made contact for a fielder's choice that allowed Vaughn to score. On the ensuing pitch, Ware came up with his second double of the season and fourth RBI, bringing in Taylor. This would be all for the Jersey City rally as the squad unfortunately fell 13-4.
Up Next:
After playing four NJAC games in the past two days, NJCU will take tomorrow off and head to neighboring Hoboken, N.J., on Tuesday, April 12, to take on the Stevens Institute of Technology in a non-conference matchup. Jersey City will look to end its current seven-game skid, with first pitch scheduled for 4:00 p.m. The Green and Gold return to conference play on Thursday, April 14, against Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J.
