Game 1: Mansfield - 11, Farmingdale State - 5
Game 2: Farmingdale State - 7, New Paltz - 5
Port Charlotte, Fla. - The Farmingdale State baseball team split a pair of games on Sunday at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Florida. The Rams fell 11-5 to Mansfield and followed that game with a 7-5 win over New Paltz.
Against Mansfield, Farmingdale State struck first with a two out RBI single to right field by junior catcher Dominick Giammona (Deer Park, N.Y.) in the bottom of the second. In Farmingdale State's next at-bat, freshman center fielder PJ Harrington (Deer Park, N.Y.) increased the lead to 3-0 with a 2 RBI single to left.
The Mountaineers (9-2) quickly responded with four runs in the third, two in the fourth and five in the fifth to open up an 11-3 advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth, junior shortstop Tom Rydzewski (Franklin Square, N.Y.) and Harrington each hit RBI singles to pull the Rams within six, 11-5.
Neither team scored the remainder of the way as Farmingdale State dropped their first game of the afternoon.
Harrington was 2-for-5 with 3 RBI, while freshman right fielder Dominick Bacchi (West Islip, N.Y.) had a hit and scored two runs.
In the second game of the day versus New Paltz, Rydzewski put the Rams (8-2) ahead 1-0 in the first inning on an RBI fielder's choice. After a Michael Marino (Franklin Square, N.Y.) single, a double steal plated Rydzewski and increased the lead to 2-0.
In the top of the second, the Hawks (7-7) closed within one on a RBI sacrifice fly to to left by sophomore catcher Tyler Bell (West Islip, N.Y.).
Farmingdale State converted another double steal in the bottom half of the inning to bring the lead back to two.
Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Marino's two out RBI double scored Rydzewski and cut the deficit to one. After an unearned run tied the game at 5-5, Harrington hit an RBI triple and later scored on an error to put Farmingdale State on top 7-5.
Farmingdale State pitching allowed only three singles over the final four innings en route to the 7-5 victory over New Paltz.
The Rams were led by Marino who was 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI, while senior center fielder Edward Bergmann (East Meadow, N.Y.) was 2-for-3 and scored a run.
Senior pitcher Michael Dolce (St. James, N.Y.) improved to 2-0 on the year after allowing five runs in 6.2 innings of work. Sophomore Alex Weingarten (East Rockaway, N.Y.) tallied his second save of the season after 2.1 scoreless innings in relief.
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