JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey City University baseball team concluded its 2022 home campaign today, April 29, with a late-inning loss to New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival, Rutgers-Newark. Looking to avenge their lost yesterday against the Scarlet Raiders, the Gothic Knights came out sizzling and took an early 6-1 lead in the fifth as freshman Andre Dean (Bloomfield, N.J./Bloomfield) had a career-high 10 strikeouts, but a Rutgers comeback and late-inning error by Jersey City allowed the road team to take the 8-6 victory home.

Jersey City (14-25, 3-14 NJAC) handed the ball off to Dean to make his team-high eighth start of the season. The right-hander has flourished in his first season, going at least 5.0 or more innings in five of his eight starts, is first on the team with 46.0 innings pitch and leads the squad with 33 strikeouts. The Bloomfield native struck out five Scarlet Raiders (14-18, 4-12 NJAC) in the first three innings, giving the momentum to the Gothic Knight bats. JC got on the board first in the second, with senior Mitchell Leslie (Gibbstown, N.J./Gloucester Tech) and sophomore Justin Moreno (Brooklyn, N.Y./Trenton Catholic) grabbing base-hits. After Moreno got caught stealing, junior Jon Taylor (Englewood, N.J./Dwight Morrow) kept the rally going by drawing himself a walk. Head coach Jerry Smith put on a successful double steal attempt and aggressive base running by Mitchell and Taylor allowed the former to score.

Rutgers-Newark finally got to Dean in the fourth, scoring on a sac-fly and tying the game at 1-1. Jersey City wasted no time retaliating and took a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth and fifth. The two-out rally began with three-straight free passes drawn by Moreno, Taylor and sophomore Ricky Tuero (West New York, N.J./Memorial), who made his first start of the season behind the plate. With the bases loaded, the runs started to come in, beginning with sophomore David Duran (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) knocking in Moreno on a base-hit. Back to the top of the order, junior Josh Hernandez (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista Community) extended his on-base streak to 16 games by bringing in Tuero and Taylor. Capping off the scoring surge was senior Ricky Voss (Eatontown, N.J./Monmouth Regional), collecting his 44th RBI of the season to move him into second in the NJAC. In the fitth, Leslie scorched a ball to leftfield and later scored on a Moreno sac-fly to extend the NJCU lead, 5-1. Leslie would score again in the next inning after he got on by base-hit, stole-second, advanced via a fly ball from freshman Matt Kaliske (Forked River, N.J./Lacey Township) and came home on a Moreno sac-fly. 

The Scarlet Raiders exploded for five run and tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the seventh to force Dean to exit. Coming in to get the final out of the inning and hold the lead was freshman Frank Shipman (Edison, N.J./Edison), who got the strikeout. The right-hander captured a 1-2-3 eighth inning to set up a tie game heading into the top half of the ninth. Rutgers-Newark was able to get a runner on and eventually take the lead following a Gothic Knight error in left. The visitors shut the door on Jersey City in the bottom half to seal the 8-6 victory. 

Up Next:
The squad will close out the NJAC regular-season tomorrow, April 30, in Wayne, N.J. to take on William Paterson University. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 11:30 a.m.