Fifth and Sixth Innings Put Rams on Top

#1 Farmingdale State - 9, #4 Old Westbury - 4

Farmingdale, N.Y. - The top-seeded Farmingdale State baseball team defeated fourth seed Old Westbury, 9-4, in today's Second Round game of the Skyline Conference Baseball Tournament. With the win, the Rams (21-13) move into the winners bracket of the double-elimination playoffs, while the Panthers (20-17) fall into the losers bracket.

Farmingdale went up 3-0 in the third inning with a three-run homerun to centerfield by junior second baseman Gibran Bracamonte (Bronx, N.Y./Grand Street Campus). Old Westbury got two back in the fourth on three hits for a 3-2 score, while the Rams added one run in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-2.

In the top of the fifth, junior centerfielder Jason Kondra (East Syracuse, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa) knocked in a run on a single through the right side and junior shortstop Melvin Simmons (Bronx, N.Y./Alfred E. Smith) tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right for the 4-4 score.

The Rams capitalized in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to take the lead for good. In the fifth, senior centerfielder Frank Yera (Manhattan, N.Y./Grand Street Campus) was hit by a pitch, before stealing second and third. Senior designated hitter Donny Moscatelli* (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) walked and stole second. Freshman rightfielder Terrence Bohonan (Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) knocked in the game-winning runs with a two RBI single up the middle to take a 6-4 lead.

In the sixth, Yera drew a bases loaded walk for the first run of the inning, while senior first baseman Mike Labrozzi* (Sag Harbor, N.Y./Pierson) was hit by pitch with the bases loaded for the second run, followed by a sacrifice fly to right by Moscatelli to build a five run advantage for Farmingdale.

Junior left hander J.R. Lott (East Islip, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) got the win for the Rams, improving his record to 3-0, while allowing just two hits and striking out two over 2.2 innings of relief. For Old Westbury, junior left hander Marvin Rosario (Lynbrook, N.Y./Malverne) got the loss to fall to 6-2 overall.

Farmingdale will now play Saturday, May 1st at Noon against the winner of #3 Mount Saint Mary/#2 St. Joseph's, while Old Westbury plays the loser of that game at 3:30 p.m.

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