Game 1: Farmingdale State - 7, St. Joseph's-LI - 3
Game 2: Farmingdale State - 4, St. Joseph's-LI - 2
Patchogue, N.Y. - Farmingdale State senior pitcher Matthew Constantine (West Babylon, N.Y.) earned a pair of victories as the FSC baseball team swept St. Joseph's-LI on Monday night. Constantine tossed the final 4.1 innings of game one and started and pitched five innings in game two to lead the Rams past the defending Skyline Conference Champions by scores of 7-3 and 4-2.
In game one, FSC (14-5, 5-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on a one-out sacrifice fly to right by junior center fielder Jimmy Mattera (West Islip, N.Y.) which sent Michael Amandola (North Babylon, N.Y.) around to score.
Leading 2-0 in the fourth, the Rams increased the advantage to three on a two-out Amandola RBI single up the middle.
SJC-LI (8-11, 2-6) senior shortstop Anthony Raucci (Seaford, N.Y.) reached on a walk in the bottom of the fourth and two batters later, a Michael Ferrufino (Levittown, N.Y.) RBI double to right center sent Raucci home and cut the deficit to 3-1. In the next at-bat, an RBI double to center from Gehrig Montoro (Wantagh, N.Y.) pulled the Golden Eagles within one, 3-2.
With a runner on second and one out in the bottom of the seventh, junior third baseman Tyler Sanderson (Hauppauge, N.Y.) tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI double to right center.
The Rams regained the lead in the ninth inning after junior left fielder Vincent Napolitano (Bellmore, N.Y.) reached on a fielder choice to the pitcher and Tyler Schrimpf (Miller Place, N.Y.) scored. After a Steven Burke (North Babylon, N.Y.) RBI single through the right side, junior left fielder Vincent Rice (North Massapequa, N.Y.) hit a sac fly to center to increase the advantage to 6-3. FSC added an unearned run before shutting down SJC-LI in the bottom half of the ninth for the 7-3 game one victory.
Amandola finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, stolen base, run scored and RBI, while junior first baseman Morgan McCarthy (Oceanside, N.Y.) had two hits, a stolen base, run scored and an RBI. Burke added two hits, a run scored and an RBI in the victory for Farmingdale State.
Constantine, who pitched the final 4.1 innings, earned the win and improved to 3-1 on the year after allowing one run on two hits.
For the Golden Eagles, Montoro led the way after going 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and run batted in.
The Rams struck first in the top of the second inning of game two on a Napolitano RBI triple to right center which plated Mattera who reached base on a walk.
After adding a run in the fifth, Farmingdale State went ahead 3-0 in the next inning on a Rice RBI double to left center. In the next at-bat, Amandola hit an RBI single to left center which scored Rice and increased the lead to 4-0.
In the bottom of the seventh, the first three Golden Eagles batters reached base and Raucci followed with a 2 RBI single to right center to cut the deficit in half. After the SJC-LI double, FSC senior pitcher Ryan Mallon (Deer Park, N.Y.) came in and did not allow a hit as he ended the threat and earned the save.
Rice finished with two hits, including a double, a run scored and had a run batted in and Napolitano was 1-for-2 with a triple and an RBI.
Constantine (4-1) pitched five shutout innings, allowing only two hits and striking out five.
Farmingdale State next will play host to Baruch in a non-conference game on Tuesday, April 2nd at 3:30 p.m.
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