Mahwah, NJ | The College of Staten Island baseball team kept pace early but couldn’t come back enough to keep Ramapo College from taking a 14-7 win as part of non-conference play in a single, nine-inning, affair this afternoon. The Dolphins dipped to 8-9 overall while the Roadrunners improved to 16-10.
After a scoreless first inning, CSI registered the game’s first run in the top of the second frame off of RC starter Nick Recarte. Anthony Lozada did the honors, scoring on a wild pitch after earning on via a walk and the advancing on a Salvatore Russo single and a Jett Nouvertne fielder’s choice.
The Roadrunners had a fitting response, however, in their turn of the second against CSI starter Juan Rodriguez. Joe Maugeri and Liam Duffy tagged RBI hits after Rodiguez motored through two consecutive outs to start the frame.
Down 3-1 in the fourth frame, CSI again surged back. Glenn Glennerster scored after doubling to start the inning and then getting moved over two bases thanks to wild pitches, and then with Lozada at third base for the same reasons and Jett Nouvertne at first due to a walk, Nouvertne took off for second and upon the throw, Lozada came in to score to tie the game at 3-3.
RC would not let the Dolphins enjoy the surge, as they bounced back again, this time with two runs in their turn of the fourth. The highlight was an Anthony Kuzmenko triple that brought in Ryan MacNaughton. After CSI then went down in order in the fifth, Ramapo scored another pair of runs in the fifth thanks to the small-ball, as two sacrifice-bunts yielded RBI scoring Bobby Shannon and Vincenzo Sita who led off the inning with hits. After five frames, Ramapo assumed a 7-3 edge.
CSI got a run back in the sixth to make it 7-4, but Ramapo essentially sealed the deal with a big, six-run, sixth to go up, 13-4. Aided by a CSI error, the Roadrunners posted four hits in the frame and left the bases loaded. After a pair of wild pitches to start the frame, Rodriguez was lifted for Ryan Moore, but the freshman ran into more trouble, throwing a pair of wild pitches while hitting two batters as well. Of the six runs scored, only one, on a rope single by Maugeri was scored on a ball hit outside the infield.
The Dolphins did try and scratch away at the lead, and scored single runs in each of the last three innings to get a little closer. A Nicholas Meola single plated Anthony DiMarco in the seventh, after DiMarco had doubled, and in the eighth, Khalid Zahrieh singled in Lozada, who stayed hot with an inning-opening single. An infield single by Russo scored pinch-hitter Joseph Amato, who started the ninth-inning threat with a two-out double.
CSI was out-hit in the contest, 18-10, and Recarte improved to 2-1 with the win, tossing five innings, yielding four earned runs on just two hits, walking eight and fanning seven. Rodriguez took the loss, giving up nine earned off of 13 hits in five frames. Russo went 2-4 at the plate for CSI with a RBI while Maugeri was the hero for Ramapo, going 4-4 at the dish with two RBI and four runs scored. CSI left 11 runners on base in the game.
The Dolphins will return to action on Wednesday, when they travel again, this time to face Manhattanville College at 3:30pm for another non-conference tilt.
