DAVENPORT, Fla. – The William Paterson baseball team (4-6) opened the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational with an 8-4 victory over Wisconsin-Superior (5-8) March 16.   

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Wisconsin-Superior held a three-run lead (3-0) entering the fourth inning before the WP bats got going.
• Junior Connor Luckie (Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton High West) singled to right and scored on an RBI triple to right center by classmate Tyler Ruban (Oak Ridge, N.J./Jefferson Twp.). A base knock to left by junior Christian Hay (River Edge, N.J./River Dell Regional) drove in Ruban to make it a one-run game (3-2).
• In the seventh, senior Jake Lutz (River Vale, N.J./Pascack Valley Regional) led off with a single to left. A costly error by the Yellowjackets on a sacrifice bunt attempt put runners on the corners to set up freshman Ty Kobylakiewicz (Woodbridge, N.J./Woodbridge) for a sacrifice fly. Two batters later, another run crossed for the Pioneers off a Luckie base hit to give WP the 4-3 advantage.
• William Paterson extended its lead to four (7-3) following a three-run eighth inning. Ruban was on second with two outs before coming around to score on an RBI base knock by Lutz. Junior Tom Radigan (Verona, N.J./Verona) then came up and belted a ball over the fence in right field for his first home run of the season.
• The Yellowjackets plated a run in the bottom half of the eighth, but the Pioneers got it right back in the ninth after Hay ripped an RBI single up the middle to make it 8-4.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• The Pioneers extended their win streak to three.
• Five Pioneers recorded multi-hit outings.
• Ruban went 3-for-5 at the plate with a triple, two runs scored and an RBI.
• Luckie had a pair of base hits with two runs scored and an RBI.
• Hay drove in two runs during his two-hit performance.
• Radigan crossed home twice and drove in a pair of runs.
• Senior Darmany Rivas (Bloomfield, N.J./Bloomfield) earned his first win of the season after striking out seven batters and allowing just three earned runs in seven innings of work.

UP NEXT:

• The Pioneers will square off against Ohio Northern, Sunday, March 17, at 2:45 p.m. in Davenport, Fla.   

 
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