Box Score MAHWAH, N.J. (April 21, 2014) – While the Drew University baseball team was outlasted in a wild shootout, 12-9, at Ramapo College in a non-conference game on Monday afternoon, a number of Rangers picked up invaluable experience on the diamond.
 
Junior Michael Scarzafava went 2-for-4 and scored four runs, the second highest single-game total in school history, and was one of six Rangers with multiple hits. Junior shortstop Steve Kowalski was 3-for-6 with three RBIs and joined senior second baseman Pat Lydon and freshman first baseman Jim Meyreles with three hits in the setback. Lydon and Meyreles also added an RBI apiece.
 
Freshman left fielder Richie Poland was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, while freshman center fielder Marc Cohen finished 2-for-2 from the plate with a run scored and an RBI.
 
"All of those guys had amazing games at the plate," said head coach Brian Hirschberg. "The pitching didn't go our way, unfortunately, but these guys in the lineup got an opportunity today and took advantage of it in a big way."
 
The Rangers (13-17) and Roadrunners (18-12-1) combined for 30 hits – 15 apiece – and seven errors in a seesaw battle that saw Drew erase a Ramapo lead three separate times on Monday. The Rangers scored in six of their nine offensive frames, while the Roadrunners tallied in five of their eight, including a five-run bottom of the third inning.
 
Ramapo struck first with two runs in the bottom half of the opening inning. In a game of comebacks, Kowalski was the first to strike back with a two-run single through the left side in the top of the second. The Roadrunners responded quickly, however, by taking a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the frame.
 
Drew came back again in the third when Poland drew a bases-loaded walk to record the RBI and bring the score to 3-3. Ramapo retook the lead in the home half of the inning with five runs on four hits.
 
Charged with another comeback, Scarzafava led off the Ranger fourth with a single, the first of three to start the frame as Drew loaded the bases. With one out, freshman Dan Pfefferkorn made solid contact on a fielder's choice to score Scarzafava to cut the Roadrunners' lead to 8-4.
 
Lydon then switched from second base to the pitcher's mound to throw three innings of scoreless baseball as his team continued to chip away at the lead.
 
The Rangers got three back in the top of the fifth on an unearned run and a Kowalski RBI single before Lydon helped his own cause with a run-scoring single of his own.
 
A couple of gritty at-bats eventually tied the contest for the third time. In the seventh, Meyreles had runners in scoring position with a full count and two outs, and came through with the RBI single to make it 9-7. Cohen also had two strikes and two outs working against him in the eighth, but the freshman shook off the pressure to deliver a single up the middle to score Poland and tie the contest at 9-9.
 
"We had some clutch two-out, two-strike hits with runners in scoring position today," Hirschberg said. "That's the sign of a tough team. It's important to see it done in game action, because it will give us a blueprint for success. We executed in really tough scenarios, and it should be contagious going forward."
 
The Roadrunners would break a deadlock for the fifth time in their half of the eighth inning for three runs. The Ramapo pitching staff held the Rangers hitless in an inning for the first time in the top of the ninth to help the Roadrunners with their 18^th game of the season.
 
Drew is back on the road on Tuesday, April 22 for a non-conference game at The College of Staten Island under the lights at 7 p.m. The Rangers will be donning pink hats as they participate in the Dolphins' 11^th Annual Grace Hillery Breast Cancer Awareness Night. Read more about the cause here.