Lakewood, NJ (5-19-12) – Dan Mauriello's two out single through the left side in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted Ramapo College to a come from behind 3-2 victory over Keystone College in the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional.
The loss eliminates the Giants from the Division III tournament, denying Keystone a return trip to World Series in Wisconsin.
Keystone ends its season at 37-8, while Ramapo, which moves on to play Kean in the championship round, moves to 33-13.
Derek Alex suffered the loss for Keystone, going two-thirds of an inning.
Miquel Castano led the Giants with two hits, as Esteban Meletiche and Castano each picked up a RBI.
The Roadrunners started the final frame with a ground rule double and quickly put the next two runners on to load the bases with no one out. Alex was able induce a ground ball for a force at home and fly ball to get back to back outs, before Mauriello's heroics ended things for the Giants.
Keystone had broken a one all tie in the top of the inning when pinch runner Andrew Siano scored from third on a Miquel Castano single through the left side.
Austin Straub had led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice before being replaced. Siano stole third to set up the go ahead run.
James Knight picked up the win in relief for Ramapo, tossing just two-thirds of an inning.
Keystone finally broke a scoreless streak of 15 innings when they knotted things at one in the seventh. Miquel Castano led off with a single to short and moved on to second on the errant throw. Del Rosso put down a two strike bunt to move him to third with one out. Meletiche then followed with a sacrifice to right to end the scoring drought.
As has been the case in every game in this regional, the Giants fell behind early as the Roadrunners pushed across a run in the first. The Ramapo leadoff hitter hit a sinking liner to right center that Brian Del Ross made a great attempt on only to have the ball fall out of his reach for a double. Christian Spurr would follow the sacrifice bunt with a single to left to give his team the 1-0 lead.
In the third the Giants tried to get something going using singles by Del Rosso and Caserta and a walk to Meletiche to lead the bases with one out. However, a pop-out to short by Jhon Comas and a great play by the Ramapo second baseman to rob Chris Bzozowski on a liner in short right field left the bases full.
Ramapo made their own attempt at a two-out third inning rally, loading the bases with a single and pair of walks, but Mike Pembleton worked out of the jam with a pop up.
Keystone continued to put runners on base in the middle innings, but could not come up with the game tying hit when they needed it. The Giants put a pair of runners on in the fourth with no success and then had Esteban Meletiche and Frank Mormino reach third base in the fifth and sixth innings respectively without being able to bring them the additional 90 feet.
The Roadrunners tried to add some insurance in the sixth, when after two quick outs they strung together a pair of singles and an error to load the bases. Connor Smith got David Jacob to bounce to Lymbel Guerrero at third to squash the threat.
