David Otero on what worked for him this afternoon pic.twitter.com/xyhZQmipo9
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 15, 2018
Farmingdale State slid into second place in the Skyline conference on Sunday afternoon, completely dominating St Joseph’s (L.I) in 16 shutout innings at home.
The Rams took the first game, 6-0, and won a 7-inning second game, 2-0, on a windy day that head coach Keith Osik said was “not baseball weather obviously.”
Senior LHP David Otero Jr. took the mound for Farmingdale in game one and looked sharp, throwing 7.1 strong innings, striking out 10 and allowing only three hits.
“My changeup was my go-to pitch,” Otero said. “I was just trying to get ahead and get my breaking ball and changeup over.”
With the victory, Otero moves to 3-1 on the season and lowers his ERA to a sparkly 1.51. Logan Hicks came on in relief and pitched 1.2 innings for his fourth save of the season.
Nick Clemente got the start for St. Joe’s and looked great through five shutout innings. The Farmingdale hitters finally got to him in the sixth, however, when sophomore DH Vincent Rice hit an RBI double down the left field line, despite playing through a hamstring injury.
Rice sparked some more offense in the eighth inning with an RBI single, starting a 4-run frame that put the game out reach at 6-0 heading into the ninth inning.
Clemente finished with 7.1 innings pitched, showing signs up fatigue in the later innings as he gave up five runs in his final 2.1.
Rice continued to be the spark that the offense needed in the second game, as he broke a scoreless game with a solo shot to deep left in the fourth inning. He went 4-for-7 over both games with three timely RBIs and bumps his batting average up to .424 on the year.
That run would end up being all the support that Rams’ starter Matthew Constantine needed. The Junior RHP pitched a complete 7-inning game, allowing four hits while striking out three. He got out of every jam he was in with relative ease, leaving 5 runners in scoring position stranded and allowing St. Joe’s to hit just 1-for-9 with a runner on base.
After Otero thoroughly frustrated the Golden Eagles’ hitters, Constantine put them out of their misery, making quick work of his conference rivals.
Ernie Geraci added an insurance run for Constantine in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double that took a high bounce in the infield over the third baseman’s head and down the line.
Grabbing a sweep here was huge for Farmingdale with Skyline foes jostling for playoff position. Both teams entered the game tied for fourth in conference play at 7-3, but with the sweep Farmingdale moves into second place, while St. Joseph’s drops to sixth.
If Farmingdale can continue to pitch the way they did Sunday afternoon, they can make a deep postseason run. With players coming back from injury, the Rams’ staff is as complete and versatile as it’s been in recent years.
“We haven’t really had a chance to line up four guys with guys being hurt,” Osik said. “We feel like we have some good depth in the pitching staff… The kids did a good job today.”
Farmingdale will play a non-conference game on Wednesday night at Lehman College before a pair of important weekend double-headers against SUNY Maritime and the Merchant Marine Academy.
St Joseph’s, meanwhile, will look towards a Tuesday double-header against New Jersey City University.
