MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The William Paterson baseball team (25-13, 10-8 NJAC) finished off the regular season by earning its fifth straight victory, a 6-4 decision at Montclair State (12-25, 3-15 NJAC) April 28.
Already assured of a spot in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament, WP stands fifth in the league standings with several conference games yet to be played April 28 and Monday, April 29. The seeds, match-ups and locations of the first-round games on Tuesday, April 30, will be finalized after Monday's contests for the six-team, double-elimination tourney.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Singles by sophomore center fielder Steven DiGirolamo (Dumont, N.J./Dumont), junior second baseman Matt Ferrara (Paramus, N.J./Paramus) and junior first baseman Vin Dorio (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst), as well as bases-loaded walks issued to sophomore right fielder Danny Carter (Bloomfield, N.J./Bloomfield), junior third baseman Carlos Perez (Hawthorne, N.J./Hawthorne) and sophomore shortstop Greg Cuevas (West New York, N.J./St. Mary (Rutherford)), resulted in a total of four runs for WP during the top of the first inning.
- A Montclair State base on balls, single and sacrifice fly made it a 4-2 game during the home half of the second.
- An error and Perez RBI-double pushed the Pioneers' advantage to 5-2 in the fifth, but the Red Hawks crossed the plate once in the fifth and again in the sixth to cut the lead to 5-4.
- Sophomore catcher Steve Zukofsky (North Haledon, N.J./Passaic County Tech) singled in classmate Steve Yelin (River Edge, N.J./River Dell Regional) for a ninth-inning insurance run.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- DiGirolamo, Ferrara, Yelin and sophomore left fielder Carson Weis (River Vale, N.J./Pascack Valley Regional) each had a pair of hits for the Pioneers.
- Senior Jeff Lombardi, Jr. tossed 4.1 innings of relief, giving up three hits, one run and two walks while punching out three (3-0).
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