CALDWELL, N.J. - Three freshman pitchers blanked Felician College over 18 innings to lead the Caldwell College baseball team to a sweep of the Golden Falcons in an important Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader Wednesday at the Kiwanis Oval. The Cougars, who won 3-0 and 1-0, improve to 16-18 overall and 11-7 in the conference to take sole possession of fourth place in the CACC standings. Felician drops to 20-19, 7-9 CACC with the losses.
In the first game, freshman right-hander Dan Bartlett (Levittown, NY/Island Trees) and Felician's Joel Sanchez kept the offenses at bay until the bottom of the sixth. Junior Joe Doerrer (Middletown, NJ/Raritan) led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt. After a pair of walks, freshman Stephen Dodd (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) singled to center, scoring Doerrer and senior Juan Mejia (Ocean City, NJ/St. Augustine) for a 2-0 Caldwell lead. Then in the eighth, Doerrer scored from third on a grounder by Mejia to make the score 3-0 Cougars. Freshman Robert Bennetti (Laurence Harbor, NJ/Old Bridge), left, who came on in relief of Bartlett in the eighth, retired all six batters he faced, including four strikeouts, to close out the win.
Bartlett gave up seven hits and no runs while fanning five and walking one in seven innings to improve to 5-1 on the season. Sanchez went the distance for the Golden Falcons, allowing three runs on nine hits in eight innings to fall to 6-3.
Caldwell didn't wait long to get on the scoreboard in Game 2. In the bottom of the first inning, Doerrer drew a one-out walk and scored when the next batter, junior Jorge Ynoa (Bayside, NY/Bayside), doubled to left field for a 1-0 Cougar lead. That's all freshman Chris DeRogatis (N. Arlington, NJ/Queen of Peace), right, needed, as the right-hander shut down Felician over 7 1/3 innings, allowing three hits while walking three and striking out four to improve to 4-3. Again Bennetti, last week's CACC Rookie of the Week, closed out the victory with 1 2/3 perfect innings for his second save of the day and fourth of the season. Felician's Steve Paladino also pitched well, giving up just one run on three hits in eight innings of work.
The Cougars also played excellent defense behind their pitchers, with freshman shortstop Stephen Luczaj (N. Merrick, NJ/Mepham) making several outstanding plays in the infield during both games. In the top of the ninth in Game 2, Ynoa made a running catch at the left-centerfield fence to rob Mike Farrell of an extra-base hit.
Caldwell plays a non-conference game at Pace University on Thursday, Apr. 21, beginning at 3:30 p.m. in Briar Cliff, N.Y.
