LYNDHURST, N.J. – The Bloomfield College baseball team salvaged a split of its two-game season series with Felician College by earning a 5-4 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory over the host Golden Falcons on Thursday afternoon at the Lyndhurst Recreation Complex. In defeat, Felician junior left fielder Chris Ayala (Marlboro, N.J./Marlboro) was 3 for 3 plus a walk.

With the loss, the Golden Falcons (17-26, 9-9 CACC) fell into a fifth-place tie in the CACC with Chestnut Hill College, their opponent for a doubleheader on Saturday that completes league play. Felician will need one win against the Griffins to secure a spot in the six-team conference tournament that commences on May 7.

On Thursday, the teams entered the ninth inning tied, 4-4. Felician reliever Stephen Paladino (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peters Boys) (2-4) issued a walk to Deacon freshman catcher David Rivera (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore) to start the inning. The Golden Falcons replaced Paladino with senior righty Brett Hauber (Deposit, N.Y./Deposit), and Rivera was promptly sacrificed to second base.

Bloomfield's Allen Rivera (Vineland, N.J./Sacred Heart) muscled a base hit through the left side of the infield, but the ball was hit to hard to score David Rivera from second. However, Deacon leadoff man Joe Meola (Maplewood, N.J./Columbia) came through with a sacrifice fly to put the visitors ahead.

Sophomore Lucas Junger (Waretown, N.J./Southern Regional) (2-2), the third Deacon pitcher of the afternoon, had entered in the eighth inning and escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam. He began the ninth by hitting Felician freshman Ralph Caccavale (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) with a pitch. But following a sacrifice, Junger induced a pop-up and groundout by the Golden Falcon No. 2 and 3 hitters to end the game.

Trailing 2-1, Bloomfield (6-28, 4-12) had received a tying RBI double from Anthony Koban (Elmwood Park, N.J./Elmwood Park) in the top of the sixth to knot the score. The Deacons then took the lead in the eighth on a bizarre play, scoring a pair of runs when Felician committed two throwing errors in the same sequence.

Felician senior Mike Farrell (Red Bank, N.J./Middletown South) re-tied the game with a one-out, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth. But after the Golden Falcons loaded the bases on a pair of walks, Bloomfield third-baseman Kevin Caraballo (North Bergen, N.J./Union City) preserved the tie with back-to-back sparkling defensive plays. He gloved a hard ground ball by Jordan Tackett (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford) on one hop and recorded the force-out at the plate, then made a diving stop of a Jonathan Arche (Miami, Fla./Ferguson) grounder and nipped Arche at first base to end the inning.

Gabriel Fellin (Temple, Pa./Muhlenberg) stole a base and scored twice for Felician, which left eight men on base. Starting pitcher Jerry Vasto (Atlantic Highlands, N.J./Henry Hudson Regional) struck out six and walked none in 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision. Meola had a single, double, and triple and scored two runs for the Deacons.