Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College baseball team lost a pair of games to Concordia College, 5-4 and 9-3 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader Thursday afternoon at the Kiwanis Oval. The Cougars, who are now 6-26 overall, complete their CACC schedule with a 3-17 record in league play. The Clippers (12-21) remain alive in the postseason picture with an 8-10 CACC mark.

The first game started on Apr. 12 and was halted in the top of the eighth inning with the score tied at 3-3 and runners on first and second with two out. Vincent Froio singled to load the bases, then Jason Reyes hit a two-run single to give Concordia a 5-3 lead. In the bottom of the eighth, a groundout by sophomore Alex Rodriguez (Merrick, NY/Calhoun) allowed senior Jack Joyce (Bayside, NY/St. Mary's) to score from third and make the score 5-4. Junior Dominick Mangarella (E. Brunswick, NJ/Bishop Ahr) advanced to third on the play, but the Cougars were unable to get him home to tie the game. Caldwell was retired in order in the ninth by Andrew Worth to end the game.

Joyce, senior Stephen Dodd (Milford, NJ/Delaware Valley) and freshman Ryan Rivera (Saddle Brook, NJ/St. Joseph) each had two hits, with Rivera driving in two runs for Caldwell. Senior Robert Bennetti (Laurence Harbor, NJ/Old Bridge) pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits in a no-decision.

In Game 2, senior Joe O'Donnell (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning to put the Cougars up, 1-0. But the Clippers scored three times in the third inning, once in the third and fourth and four more runs in the fifth to take a commanding 9-1 lead. Junior Anthony Caruso (N. Babylon, NY/N. Babylon) tripled in the fifth and came home on a single by senior Stephen Luczaj (N. Merrick, NY/Mepham). Sophomore Mike LaTorraca (West Caldwell, NJ/James Caldwell) scored an unearned run on an error off a hit from senior Andrew Nunez (East Elmhurst, NY/Cardozo) in the ninth to complete the scoring.

Senior relief pitchers Nick Karalekas (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) and Steve Valenti (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) kept the Clippers off the scoreboard over the final 4 1/3 innings and did not allow a hit. Doug Elser held Caldwell to three runs, two earned, on six hits in 8 1/3 innings of work to earn the win.

The Cougars take on Bloomfield College on Friday, May 2 in a non-conference game at Yogi Berra Stadium in Monclair, N.J. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.