STOCKTON SPLITS WITH #18 RAMAPO

Mark Crescenzi

Game 1 / Game 2 / Video Highlights

Richard Stockton (13-8, 1-1 NJAC) and 18th-ranked Ramapo (14-4, 1-1) opened New Jersey Athletic Conference play by splitting a doubleheader.

The Roadrunners scored a run in the top of the ninth to take the first game 4-3. Mark Crescenzi (Penns Grove/Penns Grove) pitched a shutout to lead Stockton to a 3-0 win in the second game.

In the opener, Ramapo snapped a 3-3 tie with a run in the top of the ninth as Christian Spurr’s RBI single brought home Dave Jacob with the go-ahead tally that gave the Roadrunners the 4-3 triumph.

Stockton rallied from the two-run deficit to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. Mike Wasco (Riverside/Riverside) stroked an RBI single and Nick Scalise (Northfield/ Mainland) later scored the tying run on a wild pitch. The Stockton rally came after Ramapo took a 3-1 lead with a pair of tallies in the seventh inning.

Barry Larro (Cedarville/Cumberland) went 2-4 and scored twice for Stockton, but the Ospreys managed just six hits.Spurr and Jacob each finished 2-5, with Spurr driving in two runs and Jacob scoring twice. Matt Jenisch earned the win with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief work.

Crescenzi pitched a gem in the nightcap as he scattered six hits and fanned two in a complete-game shutout to help Stockton earn the split with a 3-0 victory. Scalise and Justin Gordon (Brick/Brick Memorial) led the Ospreys at the plate as they each knocked three hits and scored once. Travis Marra (Toms River/TR East) went 2-2 with an RBI.

Stockton’s took an early 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Wasco that scored Larro in the bottom of the first. The Ospreys added a pair of insurance runs in the third frame. Gordon led off with a single and later scored on a bunt single by Scalise, who came across for Stockton’s third run on an RBI single by Marra.

Crescenzi protected the 3-0 lead by giving up just three hits in the last six innings. Ramapo’s Chris Werr finished with three of the Roadrunners’ six safeties in the game.