Mahwah, NJ – Ramapo College's Rafael Dela Cruz and Scott Shields each drove in a run in the second inning which turned out to be the difference in the game as the Roadrunners took the first of its home-and-home set with Montclair State posting a 5-3 victory on Thursday afternoon.

The two teams will square off again on Friday, April 3 at Yogi Berra Stadium beginning at 3:30 pm.

Senior catcher ANDERSON ROSA and sophomore RYAN LONG had two hits apiece for Montclair State, which fell to 6-9 overall, 1-2 in the NJAC with the loss. Ramapo upped its record to 14-6 overall while remaining perfect in the conference at 3-0.

Ramapo grabbed the early lead in the second as Peschiani led off with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. A walk and sacrifice put two runners into scoring position which the Roadrunners capitalized on as Dela Cruz singled back through the middle for the game's first run. Two batters later Shields lofted a sacrifice fly for the 2-0 lead.
Montclair State would get those runs back in the top of the fourth putting the first three batters on. MATT LONG bounced into a fielder's choice that scored PHILIP SCOTT with the first MSU run and KYLE BANYARD added a sacrifice fly to score CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS forging a 2-2 tie.

The Roadrunners quickly regained the lead in their half of the inning as Joe Venturino singled home two runs for a 4-2 Ramapo lead which grew to 5-2 in the fifth on a Shields infield single that scored Scott Paulus.

MSU pulled within 5-3 in the seventh as Rosa scored on an error however that would be as close as the Red Hawks would get.

Walker Larson went the distance for Ramapo as he improved to 4-1. Larson allowed seven hits and three runs 9two earned). He struck out five and walked one. Sophomore righthander DONALD CUSICK (0-2) took the loss.