Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
POMONA, N.Y. - The Caldwell College baseball team split a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader with Nyack College Tuesday afternoon at Provident Bank Park. The Cougars, who won the first game 9-6, are now 8-22 overall and 6-6 in league play. The Warriors salvaged the split by winning the second game, 6-3 to improve to 9-17 overall, 6-7 CACC.

Caldwell grabbed control of Game 1 with six runs in the top of the second inning. Juniors Joe O'Donnell (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) and Stephen Luczaj (N. Merrick, NY/Mepham) hit two-run singles, and junior Andrew Nunez (East Elmhurst, NY/Cardozo) singled home Tom Todaro (Staten Island, NY/Moore Catholic) in the inning. Nunez also tripled in the top of the fifth to plate junior Thomas Pisano (N. Bellmore, NY/Mepham) and came home on a single by O'Donnell. O'Donnell went 4-for-5 with a double and three runs batted in, while Nunez had three hits.

Junior right-hander Dan Bartlett (Levittown, NY/Island Trees) started and went 7 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on 11 hits to improve to 3-5 on the season. Junior Steve Valenti (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the save.

In the second game, Nyack scored twice in the bottom of the second inning and once in the sixth to lead 3-0. Then in the top of the eighth, Caldwell scored two runs on a sacrifice fly from junior Paul Nyitray (Cranford, NJ/St. Joseph's) and a single from O'Donnell that brought home Nunez to make the score 3-2 Nyack. The Warriors responded with three runs in the bottom of the eighth for a 6-2 advantage. Pisano singled home Luczaj in the top of the ninth, and the Cougars loaded the bases with one out. But Nyack's Tony Campbell came on in relief and induced a pop-up and a grounder to end the threat and the game.

Junior righty Lucas Willenbrock (Amityville, NY/Amityville Memorial) gave up six runs, five earned, on 11 hits in 7 1/3 innings for Caldwell. Junior Gary Gurino-Burns (N. Massapequa, NY/Plainedge) finished up in relief of Willenbrock.

The Cougars, who currently sit in fifth place in the conference standings, continue their push for a playoff spot with a CACC doubleheader against seventh-place Chestnut Hill College on Saturday, Apr. 20. The first game starts at 2:00 p.m. at the Kiwanis Oval in Caldwell, N.J.