Game 1: Farmingdale State 7, Purchase 2
Game 2: Farmingdale State 4, Purchase 1
PURCHASE, N.Y. | The Farmingdale State College baseball team pushed its winning streak to 16 straight wins on Friday, as the Rams swept a Skyline Conference doubleheader at Purchase College. FSC (22-9, 14-4 Skyline) defeated the Panthers (17-18, 10-8) by a 7-2 count in the opening game, before taking the second contest, 4-1.
In the first game, Farmingdale State took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning when senior
Dom LaFroscia (Sayville, N.Y.) drove home classmate
Richie Heyder (Holbrook, N.Y.) on a double down the left-field line, before the host Panthers tied the contest with a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth.
FSC proceeded to manufacture a three-run fifth frame, courtesy of a two-run double to the left side of the field by sophomore
Kaolis Delacruz (Levittown, N.Y.) that scored Heyder and freshman
Matt Faraone (East Yaphank, N.Y.), before the shortstop came home one batter later on an error in the Purchase infield. The Rams tacked on a pair of runs one inning later, with Faraone's right-side ground out and a single to left field by sophomore catcher
Sean Maldonado (Glen Head, N.Y.) scoring one run apiece.
LaFroscia and Delacruz both notched two hits and a double, with Delacruz and Maldonado registering two RBI each. Senior pitchers
TJ Cox (Mineola, N.Y.) and
Derek Watts (Baldwin, N.Y.) combined on the win, with Cox moving to 5-0 on the season after throwing four innings of five-hit ball, before Watts tossed three innings to earn his fourth save.
Purchase took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap, before the Rams evened the score two innings later when Faraone crossed the plate on a right-side grounder by freshman
John Francisco (Smithtown, N.Y.).Â
Delacruz sprinted home on a wild pitch with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning, before junior
Ryan Wasserman (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) drove home Maldonado and junior
Christian Villacci (Smithtown, N.Y.) on a double to center in the ninth to give the visitors a 4-1 lead.
Junior pitcher
Thomas O'Neill (Farmingdale, N.Y.) fired 8.1 innings of six-hit, eight-strikeout ball to collect the victory, before Watts registered his second save of the day, and fifth of the season, by finishing off the final two outs.Â
Farmingdale State wraps up its regular season Saturday at 2 p.m., when it plays host to SUNY Old Westbury on "Senior Day" in an important Skyline Conference doubleheader. The Rams, who will recognize their upperclassmen between games, would clinch the No. 1 seed for next week's Skyline Conference Championship if they were to sweep the Panthers.
