AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team saw its rally fall short Tuesday afternoon when a three-run eighth inning lifted Ramapo College to a 9-6 victory in Spring Break action at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale, Florida. 
 
The loss drops W&J to 4-7 overall. Ramapo, with its third-straight win, improves to 6-4 overall. 

W&J opened the scoring with an RBI single by Nolan Lutz (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) that scored Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) to take a 1-0 advantage. 
 
The lead, however, was short lived as the Roadrunners put up a four-spot in the bottom half of the inning. Ramapo pushed across four runs on four hits before a pair of strikeouts ended the threat. 
 
The Roadrunners added a single run in both the second and third innings to stretch the lead to 6-1. From there though, the Presidents would chip away at the deficit and work themselves back into the thick of things. 
 
W&J scored a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning. LaDuca led off with a single and later stole second base before scoring on an RBI single by Lutz. Lutz then stole second before walks to Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio / Wellington School) and Joe Lehner (Painesville, Ohio / Lake Catholic) loaded the bases. A wild pitch plated Lutz to cut the deficit to 6-3. 

The Red and Black trimmed the Ramapo lead to 6-5 in the top of the seventh. Drew Garth (Glenshaw, Pa./North Hills) led off the frame with a single and later scored on a two-run home run by Josh Dezenzo (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington). The blast was Dezenzo's fifth of the season. Each of the five home runs have come during the last seven calendar days. 
 
W&J tied the score in the top of the eighth inning. Zach Scherzer (Douglassville, Pa. / Daniel Boone) led off with a pinch hit single and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Eli Owens (Alexandria, Va. / West Potomac). Two batters later, LaDuca came through with an RBI bloop double down the right field line that scored Scherzer to make the score 6-6. 

Ramapo took the lead for good with a three-spot in the bottom of the eighth. All three runs came with two outs. A two-run two-out triple by Zach Novakowski put Ramapo up for good. Jack Tallent followed with an RBI single to plate Novakowski.
 
LaDuca and Lutz led W&J offensively with two hits apiece. 
 
Ethan Boring (Ligonier, Pa./Ligonier Valley) suffered the loss in relief. Boring allowed three runs in 3.2 innings of relief.

After an off day on Wednesday, W&J faces off with William Paterson in Auburndale, Fla. on Thursday, March 21. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Lake Myrtle Field 6.