Box Score

Mahwah, NJ … The College of New Jersey baseball team saw its season come to a close as they were eliminated in the New Jersey Athletic Conference championship tournament with a 10-6 loss at Ramapo College.
 
The Lions (17-22) battled back from an early, six-run deficit, but the Roadrunners (26-13-1) combined 15 hits with six TCNJ errors to plate ten runs and advance to the next round of the conference tourney.
 
Sophomore Anthony Cocuzza (Absecon, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) led the Lions' 12-hit attack with three singles and three runs batted in. Senior Rob Vafiadou (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) also stroked a pair of hits in the final game of his collegiate career.
 
The error bug infiltrated TCNJ's defense early on as they committed five miscues in the first four innings. Ramapo made the most of its opportunities as they scored early and often to take command of the elimination game.
 
Faced with a 6-0 deficit after just two innings of baseball, the Lions went to work on chipping away to cut into the hosts' advantage. Junior Joe Dispoto (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) started the third off sending a 3-2 pitch to left field for a single. Senior Scott Kelly (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-North) laced a base hit to left before Mark Mari (Bayonne, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) moved the runners with a sacrifice bunt. Cocuzza knocked in his first two runs of the game with a clean single back through the box.
 
Murphy drew a free pass and Josh Limon (Eastampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) delivered a base hit to load the bases. Freshman Patrick Roberts (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) lofted a sacrifice fly to make it a 6-3 game.
 
Senior right-hander Robert Graber (Franklin Park, NJ/Ramapo) worked out of a jam in the bottom of the frame, allowing TCNJ to maintain its momentum entering the fourth. Freshman Matthew Facas (Florham Park, NJ/Hanover Park) sent a full-count delivery to left-center field for a double to lead off the inning. He stole third and came home to score on a Dispoto ground ball to second.
 
Kelly reached on an error and then scored on Cocuzza's third hit of the game. Murphy doubled to drive in his 30^th run of the season and knot the score at 6-6.
 
Ramapo would not relent, however, as they came back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Graber left the game after four complete innings with only two of the eight runs scored being earned.
 
Junior Brendan Kelly (Butler, NJ/Butler) came on in relief to pitch the final four innings. He was touched for runs in the seventh and eighth innings. The Roadrunners tallied their seventh unearned run of the game in the eighth when Brandon Berger reached base on an error and Kevin Kelly tripled down the right-field line.
 
Zach Carroll had a big day at the plate for Ramapo, driving in four runs on a pair of hits. Dave Jacob was four-for-five with three runs scored, while Berger finished with two hits and knocked in two. Leadoff hitter Joe Venturino also had three hits.
 
Notes: Kelly, Murphy, and Graber left their mark on the Lions' program. Kelly and Murphy both rank fourth all-time in games played with 161. After hitting leadoff for nearly every game for four years, Kelly broke the record for career at bats with (663). He is tied for second all-time in runs scored 165 and ranks fourth all-time in hits with 220. Kelly is the program leader in stolen bases 98
 
Murphy finished with a .346 lifetime batting average and accumulated 207 hits, which is ninth in program history. He also completed his career amongst the all-time leaders in runs batted in (118), runs scored (108), doubles (37), and batting average.
 
Graber toed the rubber 34 starts and 230 and two-third innings in his career, both sixth all-time. He also set down 125 hitters on strikes in his tenure.