2024 Skyline Conference Baseball Championship – Game 6
(4) Farmingdale State - 8, (2) U.S. Merchant Marine Academy - 6
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
PATCHOGUE, N.Y. | Fourth-seeded Farmingdale State College advanced to the final round of the 2024 Skyline Conference Baseball Championship, as the Rams defeated No. 2-seed U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday afternoon, 8-6, at Gregg Alfano Field.
FSC (23-13) will play for the conference title on Sunday morning at 11 a.m., where it will face top-seeded host St. Joseph's University-Long Island – which defeated the Mariners by a 10-0 score in an elimination game Saturday night – at Alfano Field. The Rams would garner the conference title with a victory, while the Golden Eagles would need to win the 11 a.m. contest in order to force a winner-take-all tilt for the crown approximately 30 minutes later.
A four-run bottom of the first inning by Farmingdale State provided a cushion for sophomore right-handed pitcher
Derek Watts (Baldwin, N.Y.), as the first seven Rams reached base safely. Sophomore
Richie Heyder (Holbrook, N.Y.) drew first blood, when his single through the right side of the infield plated sophomore
Ryan Wasserman (New Hyde Pk., N.Y.) – who led off with a double – with the first run of the day. Senior first baseman
Jordan Lambert (Plainview, N.Y.) followed with a single up the middle to score junior
Chris McGuggart (Bethpage, N.Y.), before senior
Tyler DiRocco (Commack, N.Y.) pushed the lead to 3-0 when he drove in Heyder with a single through the left side. One hitter later, Lambert crossed the dish on a RBI single to center field by senior
Daniel Deutsch (Northport, N.Y.) to extend the FSC edge to four runs.
After the Mariners (27-15) pulled back one run in the top of the fourth inning, Farmingdale State scratched across three more runs in the home half of the fifth stanza to lead by a 7-1 margin. DiRocco started the spurt with a one-out single to right field to score Heyder, before Lambert came home when Deutsch reached on a fielder's choice up the middle. With two outs, DiRocco raced home on a wild pitch to increase the Rams' lead to six.
USMMA scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning, before Heyder ripped a two-out double to left-center field in the bottom half of the inning to score Wasserman and push FSC's lead to 8-3. The Mariners followed with a three-run seventh frame, before Rams senior right-hander
Johnny Dougherty (Kings Park, N.Y.) – three days after pitching his team into the double-elimination portion of the tourney against Purchase – tossed two innings of scoreless, one-hit relief while striking out four Mariners to earn his first save of the season.
Watts moved to 4-4 on the bump this season, as he threw 5.2 innings, allowed four hits and three runs (two earned) while fanning one. Heyder went 4-for-5 at the dish with two runs and as many driven in, while McGuggart, Lambert (2 R), DiRocco (R, 2 RBI, SB) and Deutsch (2 RBI, 2 SB) registered two hits apiece.
