JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University baseball team returned to the Thomas M. Gerrity Complex for the first time this month against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival Montclair State University. NJCU had the opportunity to avenge yesterday's defeat to the Red Hawks with the home game today, Friday, April 15, but fell again, 28-9. In this high-scoring affair, the squad collected 13 hits overall, including 11 different Gothic Knights who recorded a knock.
Getting the ball for Jersey City (8-19, 0-8 NJAC) this afternoon was junior
Justin Wiltsey (Hamilton Township, N.J./Hamilton West). This was the fifth start for the Hamilton Township native, matching a team-high with fellow right-hander
Andre Dean (Bloomfield, N.J./Bloomfield). Similar to yesterday afternoon's matchup, the Red Hawks (21-7, 7-1 NJAC) jumped on the Green and Gold early, bringing in five runs in the top half of the first. The NJCU bats did not have much success in the first three innings, only collecting three baserunners and stranding one in each of the first three innings. Following the 12-run eruption in the fourth by the Red Hawks, sophomore second baseman
Ali Pompey (Belle Meade, N.J./Trenton Catholic), who had previously found himself mostly in the seventh hole this season, batted again in the three hole and delivered a single to rightfield in his first at-bat to start the rally. Senior centerfielder
Ricky Voss (Eatontown, N.J./Monmouth Regional) in the cleanup spot moved Pompey over into scoring position after he zipped a ball up the middle. Making the most of a MSU error at short, Pompey came in for the first run of the game for NJCU. Capturing his 22nd RBI of the season was junior third baseman
Jimmy Vizzoni (Hamilton, N.J./Trenton Catholic) with a moonshot to deep center, bringing in Voss and cutting into the deficit.
Following a scoreless 1-2-3 by sophomore left-hander
D.J. Dekis (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) in the top of the sixth, Jersey City collected another run starting with the meat of their order. Voss started off the inning by hitting lazer to the opposite field, putting him in scoring position with nobody out. With this double, it moves Voss into 11th place in the NJAC with 41 base-hits and tied for seventh with 11 doubles. Freshman
Nick Vaughn (Ocean Township, N.J./Ocean Township) moved the centerfielder over on a ground ball to the right side and finishing the job was fellow junior outfielder
Josh Hernandez (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista Community) via fielders choice. Montclair State mustered three more runs in the following half inning but after the seventh inning stretch, freshman Josh Abrahamsen continued to make history for himself. In his first-career start yesterday, the two-way player collected the first two hits of his young Gothic Knight career after going 2-for-2 with RBI. Today, Abrahamsen captured his first career extra-base hit — a long homerun — sending a 3-1 fastball over the left center fence, bringing NJCU's total to four runs.
The Red Hawks took a commanding lead in the top of the eighth, forcing head coach
Jerry Smith to turn to his bench for the next two innings. The Green and Gold did fight and ended up scoring double their runs in the final two-innings, finishing with nine. In the eighth, Vaughn led off with a single, junior
David Duran (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) wore a pitch off the back and Vizzoni also walked to load the bases with nobody out. Collecting RBI on back to back fielder choices was sophomore
Ricky Tuero (West New York, N.J./Memorial) and freshman
Salvatore Verlingo (Nutley, N.J./St. Mary). Freshman
Riley Morrow (Ocean Township, N.J./Ocean Township) also mustered his first hit in Green and Gold.
Vizzoni went 1-2-3 the final half inning for the squad on the mound, and in the last at-bats for Jersey City, freshman
Tyler Kittle (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah) mustered his first-career base hit and Vizzoni finished his day with a two-RBI base-hit. Before the game came to a close, Verlingo notched his second hit of the afternoon, collecting his first multi-hit game of his young NJCU career.
Up Next:
NJCU will have to wash the defat quickly, as the squad returns to the Gerrity tomorrow, April 16, to take on another NJAC rival Rutgers-Camden University. First pitch of game one of the doubleheaer is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., with game two directly after. r.
