Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Mahwah, NJ … The College of New Jersey baseball team dropped a pair of New Jersey Athletic Conference games at Ramapo College on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lions lost the opener 9-4 and dropped a 7-1 decision in the second game. Ramapo improved to 17-8-1 overall and 5-4-1 in the NJAC. TCNJ fell to 16-9 on the season and 5-5 in conference play.
 
Game 1: Ramapo College 9  The College of New Jersey 4
 
Ramapo slugged out 15 hits in the opener and received a strong performance from starting pitcher Kevin Lee, who fanned 11 in 8.2 innings for the win.
 
The Lions fell behind 2-0, but a single run in the fifth and three more in the sixth gave them a 4-2 advantage. Junior Michael Murray (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg) drew a walk and moved to second on a ground out. He came around to score on an error by the shortstop to score the first run for TCNJ.
 
The Lions manufactured the tying run in the sixth. Sophomore John Rizzi (Long Hill, NJ/Watchung Hills) Cocuzza singled to right field to open the inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior Joe Dispoto (Nutley, NJ/Nutley). Senior Anthony Cocuzza (Absecon, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) singled through the right side to plate Rizzi and knot the game tied the game at 2.
 
Sophomore Garen Turner (Hainesport, NJ/Rancocas Valley) followed with a base hit and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Cocuzza scored on an RBI ground out from junior Josh Limon (Eastampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) and then Turner raced home on a wild pitch.
 
The lead was short-lived as the Roadrunners responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning. They pounded out five hits and took advantage of a pair of defensive errors to a commanding 8-4 advantage. A two-run double by Jose Garcia and a two-run single by Ryan Rinsky were the big hits in the inning.
 
Ramapo tacked on another run in the ninth to secure its 16^th win of the season.
 
Cocuzza and Turner each had two hits for the Lions. Starting pitcher Connor Smith (West Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell) suffered his first loss of the season and fell to 4-1. Freshman Ryan Duran (River Edge, NJ/River Dell) worked two innings in relief and gave up one run.
 
Game 2:  Ramapo College 7  The College of New Jersey 1
 
The Roadrunner offense continued to churn out hits and runs in the nightcap. They finished the game with 12 hits and scored multiple runs in three different innings to complete the sweep.
 
They tallied a single run in the first and pushed a pair of runners across home plate in the third.
 
The score remained 3-0 until the seventh. An RBI-single up the middle by Murray cut the deficit to 3-1. But that was the only run the Lions produce off starting pitcher Walker Larson. He limited TCNJ to just four hits over six-plus innings.
 
Ramapo answered with two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth. Ian Osterman stroked a two-run singled in the seventh. John Capuano roped a run-scoring double in the eighth and came home later on an error to stretch the lead to 7-1.
 
Junior Dave Rondesko (South River, NJ/South River) collected a pair of hits, while Rizzi and Murray accounted for the other two safeties in game two. Senior Brendan Kelly (Butler, NJ/Butler) pitched seven innings and struck out four in the loss, while junior Ryan Carmon (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery) pitched the final inning in relief.
 
TCNJ has a couple days off before traveling to Farmingdale State on Tuesday, April 15 for a 4 p.m. start.