Box Score


Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey baseball team engaged in its second extra-inning affair in as many games, but came up on the short end this time falling 6-5 in 13 innings to Farleigh Dickinson University-Florham on Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Lions (21-15), who defeated Ramapo College in 11 innings on Saturday, worked out of several jams throughout the game, but the Devils (18-15) were able to plate two runs in the 13^th to claim their 18^th victory of the season.
 
Three players had three hits on offense for TCNJ as senior Mike Galeotafiore (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Acadmey), junior Michael Murphy (Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech), and junior Scott Kelly (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-North) all had productive days at the plate.
 
A bright spot for the Lions was the achievement of Galeotafiore. In the 13^th inning, he hit a gapper to right-center field for the 59^th double of his career. Galeotafiore now has the most doubles of any player to wear a Lions' uniform, passing former catcher Gerard Haran' 07, who compiled 58 for TCNJ from 2004 to 2007.
 
The Devils jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. After Steve Seminerio (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) walked, Brandan Adams (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) singled to left-center field. Senior Matt Joiner (Trenton, NJ/Nottingham) followed with a base hit to center field to plate Seminerio and give FDU a one-run advantage.
 
The Lions responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Kelly singled and stole second base. Nick Cifelli (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) moved him over with a ground ball to the right side and senior Jimmy Ruzich (Verona, NJ/Montclair Kimberley) knocked in his team-leading 29^th run with a ground ball to short.
 
Cifelli then came home after tagging up on a long fly out and then continuing home on an errant throw.


The score remained idle until the fifth when a pair of walks and back-to-back singles tied the game. Joiner drove in his second run of the day with a base hit through the right side. Frank LaGuarina (Somerset, NJ/Immaculata) lifted a sacrifice fly to score Adams and take a 3-2 lead.
 
Freshman Josh Limon (Easthampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) opened the fifth with a base hit through the right side and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Joe Dispoto (Nutley, NJ/Nutley). Kelly singled through the middle to score Limon and knot the game at 3-3. Limon finished with two hits on the day.
 
A healthy Jim Fuhrman (Hamilton, NJ/Princeton Day School) pitched well, giving up three runs through five innings. He left the game with the score tied 3-3 and did not factor into the decision.
 
Sophomore Brian O'Connell (Massapequa, NY/Plainedge) took over in the sixth and did terrific job out of the bullpen, tossing three scoreless innings. He allowed just two hits and struck out three in his seventh appearance of the season. Freshman Tim Wolf (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) pitched a scoreless ninth as the game entered extra innings.
 
In the 10^th, Cifelli, Ruzich, and Galeotafiore each hit balls right on the nose. All three balls were tracked down by the outfield, including an outstanding over-the-shoulder catch in center by Frank Tassielli (Florham Park, NJ/Hanover Park) to end the inning.
 
Both teams traded runs in the 11^th. LaGuarina lined a two-out base hit to right-center field to score Adams and take a 4-3 lead. Lions pitcher Jacob Dewitt (Florence, NJ/Florence) worked out of a bases loaded jam to keep it a one-run game.
 
The Lions came right back as Murphy doubled down the left field line to open the inning. Freshman Mike Murray (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him over to third, and Dewitt hit a sacrifice fly to right to tie the game.
 
LaGuarina doubled to lead off the 13^th and moved to third on a wild pitch. Third baseman John Pieper (Rockaway, NJ/Morris Knolls) hit the first pitch he saw, delivering the game-winning sacrifice fly to center field. Tassielli lined a double to center for the all-important insurance run to take a 6-4 advantage.
 
Galeotafiore drove his record-breaking double to lead off the bottom of the 13^th. He moved to third on a ground ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Murray to cut the deficit to 6-5. But Devils pitcher A.J. Pichalski (Iselin, NJ/JFK) got the final out to earn his first victory of the season.
 
Joiner and LaGuarina each had three hits and two runs batted in for FDU.
 
TCNJ will look to clinch a post-season berth when they continue New Jersey Athletic Conference action play on Thursday at Richard Stockton College at 3:30 p.m. The Ospreys are 18-15 overall and in seventh place in the NJAC with a 6-8 record in league play. The Lions are back at George Ackerman Park on Friday when they take on the Ospreys at 3:30 p.m.