2025 Skyline Conference Baseball Championship - First Round
(3) Farmingdale State 5, (6) Manhattanville 1
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. | Led by strong performances from four newly named All-Skyline Conference First Team selections, third-seeded Farmingdale State College defeated sixth-seeded Manhattanville University, 5-1, on Wednesday night in the first round of the 2025 Skyline Conference Baseball Championship.
FSC (22-13) now advances to the four-team double-elimination portion of the tournament, and will play Thursday at 5 p.m. at second-seeded St. Joseph's University-Long Island in a rematch of last spring's conference final.
Four All-Skyline First Team honorees played a large hand in the victory over the Valiants (20-20), as junior outfielder
Richie Heyder (Holbrook, N.Y.) and senior first baseman
Jordan Lambert (Plainview, N.Y.) each went 2-for-4 with a triple on the night. Junior right-hander
Derek Watts (Baldwin, N.Y.) moved to 6-1 on the season, as he tossed five innings of one-run, five-hit ball to go with two strikeouts in his 73-pitch start (50 strikes). Fellow junior first-teamer, lefty
Michael Camardi (Syosset, N.Y.), was first out of the pen and fired two innings of scoreless relief, before one inning apiece by sophomore
Dennis Kelly (North Babylon, N.Y.) and senior closer
Tyler DiRocco (Commack, N.Y.) advanced the Rams to the double-elimination bracket of the championship.
Heyder put Farmingdale State on the board two batters into the bottom of the first inning, when his triple to the right-center field gap scored sophomore leadoff hitter
Ryan Tam (Wantagh, N.Y.). Lambert plated Heyder two batters later, hitting a single to right field to double the hosts' edge.
After the Valiants sliced their deficit in half in the top of the second, the hosts scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to jump ahead by a 4-1 margin. Heyder led off the inning with an infield single, before advancing 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt by freshman All-Skyline Second-Team shortstop
Kaolis Delacruz (Levittown, N.Y.). Lambert sent a triple to center field to chase Heyder across the plate, before coming home with FSC's fourth run of the night on a well-executed squeeze bunt by DiRocco.
Farmingdale State tacked on one more run in the bottom of the seventh inning, courtesy of the speed of junior center fielder
Mike Kocovic (Mahopac, N.Y.). He led off the inning with a single to center field, before stealing second and third base over the course of the next at bat. From there, senior infielder
Patrick Dallas (Patchogue, N.Y.) lofted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Kocovic and pushing the Rams' edge to 5-1.
