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Box Score 2 CALDWELL, N.J. – Senior pitcher John Holland (Jackson, N.J.) and senior designated hitter Brennan Price (Middlesex, N.J.) established Felician University career records as the Golden Falcons swept a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference baseball doubleheader from host Caldwell University, 7-1 and 10-4, on Saturday afternoon at the Kiwanis Oval.
With the pair of wins, Felician (31-10, 20-2) surpassed the 30-win plateau for the third, and earliest, occasion in the 18-year history of its program. The Golden Falcons won 30 games in 2014 and a school-record 34 in 2016, but needed postseason play to reach 30 in each of those years. Felician also finished its 2017 CACC schedule with a 20-2 won-lost mark, setting a program record for conference victories and claiming the CACC regular-season title by three games.
Felician is ranked No. 16 in the most recent national NCAA Division II writers' poll, and is 29th in Collegiate Baseball magazine's national D-II poll.
Holland, starting for the first time since being named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) National Division II Pitcher of the Week, was effective again. In the third inning, he recorded his 247th career strikeout, surpassing Stephen Paladino (2010-14) for the Felician career record.
Holland (7-1) scattered seven hits over seven innings, allowing an unearned run with five strikeouts and no walks. He departed with a 7-1 lead having thrown exactly 100 pitches. His counterpart, Caldwell freshman right-hander Michael Hess (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) (0-3), kept the Golden Falcons off of the scoreboard for the first five frames, with Jack Zosulis' (East Windsor, N.J.) fourth-inning single staking the hosts to a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth, Felician put runners on the corners with one out. A throwing error on Bruce Strickland's (Hazlet, N.J.) grounder tied the score, and senior catcher Matt Kleinstein (Marlboro, N.J.) followed with a go-ahead two-run single. Strickland's two-run single highlighted the Golden Falcons' four-run rally off the Cougar bullpen in the seventh as Felician took full control.
Kleinstein went 2 for 4 with three runs batted in. Felician also received two hits each from Andrew LaMura (Brick, N.J.), Strickland and Jason Polgano (Bronx, N.Y.). Daniel Gregor (Monroe Township, N.J.) and Rob DeSanti (Barnegat, N.J.) both collected a pair of hits for Caldwell (12-26, 6-16).
Consecutive two-run doubles by Ronnie Grant (Burlington, N.J.) and Christian Hoplock (Tinton Falls, N.J.) in the top of the sixth broke open Game 2, a scheduled seven-inning contest, for Felician, giving the visitors a 9-4 lead. The prior inning, a solo home run by Price was the 148th RBI of his career, breaking his tie with Frank Quintana (2004-07) for the Golden Falcons' all-time record.
Grant's double was his 100th hit in a Golden Falcon uniform.
Felician junior righty Rob Naughton (Levittown, N.Y.) (6-0) worked through six frames to earn the victory. He yielded three runs on six hits, struck out six batters and walked three. Possessing a 4-0 lead, he surrendered a run-scoring single to William Levier (Monroe Township, N.J.) in the fourth. With the Cougars trailing 5-1 after Price's longball, Caldwell freshman Chris Herrara (Passaic, N.J.) reached Naughton for a two-run homer.
After three scoreless innings, Felician built its original advantage in the fourth on Polgano's RBI double and a three-run home run by J.R. Meneses (Lake Worth, Fla.). Meneses finished 2 for 3 and Strickland and Grant also had two hits apiece for the Golden Falcons. Caldwell saw Levier go 2 for 2 and Ryan River (Saddle Brook, N.J.) lace a pair of doubles.
Felician has four regular-season games remaining – non-conference doubleheaders in Delaware against CACC members Goldey-Beacom College on Sunday and Wilmington (Del.) University on Wednesday.
