Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey baseball team suffered a pair of setbacks to Ramapo College on Saturday at George Ackerman Park.
 
The Lions came back from an early deficit in the opener, but the Roadrunners tallied four runs in the eighth inning to wrestle away a 9-7 win. In the back-end game, Ramapo scored four in the first and scored multiple runs in four different innings en route to an 11-2 win.
 
TCNJ is now 26-6 on the season and 10-4 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Ramapo raised its record to 27-6-1 and 9-5 in the NJAC.
 
Game 1: Ramapo 9  TCNJ 7
 
The Lions saw their 12-game winning streak snapped as they dropped an exciting game to the Roadrunners in the opener. Ramapo scored three in the top of the first, but TCNJ came right back with a five-spot in the bottom of the frame. A four-run eighth inning by the Roadrunners turned out to be the difference as they hung on for a 9-7 triumph.
 
Trailing 3-0 in the first, sophomore Patrick Anderson (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) blasted his second home run of the season over the trees in left field. After Patrick Roberts (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) drew a walk, classmate Garen Turner (Hainesport, NJ/Rancocas Valley) ripped a laser down the left-field that cleared the fence to tie the game, 3-3.
 
Later in the inning, junior CJ Gearhart (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) and sophomore Mike Follet (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) delivered run-scoring singles to take a 5-3 advantage in the first.
 
Lions' starting pitcher Steven Volpe (Cherry Hill, NJ/Eastern Regional) settled in after the first. He surrendered a run in the fourth, but held the lead into the eighth. Volpe pitched seven and a third innings and struck out a season-high seven batters.
 
Roadrunner shortstop Bobby Shannon had the big blow in the four-run eighth for Ramapo. He cracked a two-run homer to center to take an 8-6 lead. The two teams traded single runs in the ninth, but Ramapo closer Jerry D'Andrea got the final three outs for his eighth save of the season.
 
Anderson finished 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and a run scored. Turner, Gearhart, senior John Rizzi (Long Hill, NJ/Watchung Hills), and junior Alex Christian (Milltown, NJ/Spotswood) each had two hits. Turner drove in two and Christian scored twice.
 
Game 2: Ramapo 11  TCNJ 2
 
The Roadrunners jumped out to an early lead for the second straight game. They chalked up four runs in the first, highlighted by a long home run to left-center off the bat of Brandon Martinez.
 
Martinez returned to the plate in the third and doubled to left to plate Joe Venturino, who had singled. Austin Unglaub lined a base hit to left-center to drive in Martinez to Ramapo a 6-0 lead.
 
An RBI-double to right-center by Anderson got TCNJ on the board in the bottom of the third. Turner dropped in a single to right field with two outs to chase Anderson to cut the deficit to 6-2.
 
Ramapo continued to tack runs on the board, scoring three in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Roadrunner rookie Joe Brignoni did an outstanding job in relief, pitching three and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball and allowing one hit to gain the mound decision.

Venturino finished 4-for-5 with four runs batted in. Rob DeAngelis also had four hits, while Martinez finished with three hits.
 
Turner had two hits in the loss and freshman Dylan Crowley (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) pitched three and two-thirds innings allowing just one earned run.
 
The Lions continue their regular season this Tuesday, taking on Cairn University at 3:30 p.m. in George Ackerman Park.