AUBURNDALE, FL. | The Farmingdale State baseball team has won their first three games at the RussMatt Invitational in Auburndale, Florida defeating Northland College in a nine-inning contest and sweeping Concordia Moorhead in a doubleheader.
The Rams have four more games in Florida as they play Minnesota-Morris in a doubleheader on Monday, as well as Oneonta (Tues.) and #11 ranked Denison (Wed.) in single games later in the week.
Friday, March 10
In their first game on Friday, FSC rolled to a 10-5 victory over Northland.
With one out in the first inning, sophomore second baseman Chris McGuggart (Bethpage, N.Y.), junior first baseman Jordan Lambert (Plainview, N.Y.) and junior right fielder Daniel Deutsch (Northport, N.Y.) hit three consecutive singles to load the bases. Senior designated hitter Bobby Pollock (Manorville, N.Y.) and sophomore left fielder Justin DiMartino (Bethpage, N.Y.) recorded RBI walks. The next batter was senior third baseman Nolan White (Miller Place, N.Y.) and after a pair of wild pitches allowed two runs to score, he knocked a base hit through the left side to give FSC a 5-0 lead.
The Rams scored three more runs in the second inning to take a commanding 8-0 advantage before adding two more in the fifth as they went on for the 10-5 victory.
Deutsch went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI, while junior center fielder Daniel Molina (East Meadow, N.Y.) recorded a pair of hits, including a double, off the bench.
Senior Stephen Clancy (Mineola, N.Y.) tossed four shutout innings on the mound with five strike outs. Senior Alex Russo (Albertson, N.Y.) (1-0) picked up the win after firing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Saturday, March 11
On Saturday, the Rams earned a pair of one-run victories over Concordia Moorhead, including a walk-off in game two.
Farmingdale State trailed 2-0 in the second inning of game one after the Cobbers scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the first. Lambert led off the second with a single and scored on a White base hit two batters later. Freshman shortstop Ryan Wasserman (Miller Place, N.Y.) tallied an RBI single later in the inning to knot the game at 2-2.
FSC captured the lead in the fourth inning when sophomore shortstop Patrick Dallas (Patchogue, N.Y.) scored on an error before Wasserman came in on a McGuggart RBI double.
Leading 4-3 with a runner on second base in the bottom of the seventh inning, FSC freshman Michael Camardi (Syossett, N.Y.) struck-out the final batter to clinch the win and secure the first save of his career.
McGuggart went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Lambert, Dallas, and Wasserman had two hits apiece.
Senior Johnny Dougherty (Kings Park, N.Y.) (4.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 SO) (1-0) earned the win on the mound.
In a low-scoring game two, the Rams trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh and opened the inning with a hit-by-pitch. McGuggart followed with a single to put runners on first and second with no one out. After a wild pitch allowed the runners to move up, Lambert hit an RBI single through the left side to tie the game at 2-2.
With two outs later in the inning, freshman Nick Pompei (Manorville, N.Y.) hit a ground ball that went through the legs of the third baseman to score McGuggart and the clinch the walk-off 3-2 win for FSC.
Molina (1-0) earned the win after tossing three perfect innings in relief.
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