Box Score
Mahwah, N.J.— John Massoni (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter’s Boys) pitched a solid 7 2/3 innings, and allowed three runs on 11 hits, walking just one and struck out four en route to earning his first win of the season as the John Jay baseball team was victorious at Ramapo, defeating the Roadrunners, 8-5 at Jeff Maund Field on Thursday.
The Bloodhounds, who defeated Ramapo, who were coached by John Jay skipper, Dan Palumbo, from 1998 to 2000, for the first time in Palumbo’s tenure, recorded eight runs on 10 hits and led from start to finish.
After both teams went quietly in the first, the Bloodhounds got a pair of runs across in the top half of the second inning. John Jay got its first run when Steve Roman (Middletown, NY / Chapel Field Christian) drew a bases loaded walk to score Johan Abad (Corona, NY / Flushing). The next batter Edwin Hernandez (Brooklyn, NY / Murray Bergtraum) recorded a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Luis Guzman (Yonkers, NY / Mt. St. Michael’s) who doubled earlier in the inning.
The host Roadrunners got a run back in the bottom half of the frame to cut the Bloodhound lead in half on a fly ball to right that fell for a single after the gusty winds blew the ball out of reach of right fielder Anthony Cestaro (Paramus, NJ / Paramus).
But the Bloodhounds went back up by two in the top of the fourth with a two out rally. After the first two batters went quietly, Hernandez, who was 1-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, ripped a single to center. He came around to score on a hit and run as Jorge Rosado (Santo Domingo, DR / Martin Luther King) hit a double to left. For the game Rosado was 3-for-6 with a run and three RBI and was a home run shy of the cycle.
Ramapo got a run back in the bottom half of the fifth inning to once again make it a one run game.
The score remained 3-2 John Jay all the way into the eighth, when the Bloodhounds broke the game open getting five across the plate to take a commanding 8-2 lead.
Cestaro hit a one out double to start the rally, while Hernandez drew a walk. With runners on first and second Rosado laced a triple to left center to clear the bases. But the Bloodhounds were not done. John Jay loaded the bases as Massoni, who went 1-for-3, drew a walk and Chris Nastasi (Bayville, NY / IMG Academy) was hit by the pitch. Xavier Perez (Bronx, NY / Manhattan Center) reached on an error by the Ramapo third baseman to score Rosado. Next Abad ripped a two run single to left to drive in Massoni and Nastasi, giving the Bloodhounds a six run lead with six outs to go.
The insurance runs proved to be key as the Roadrunners got a run across in the bottom of the eighth and put together a mild two out rally in the ninth, getting two more runs, but not enough as John Jay secured the win to improve to 4-8.
John Jay returns to action on Wed. Mar. 26 at USMMA at 4 p.m.
