The Roadrunners did it all in a second-round outing in the NJCAA Division III World Series in Greeneville, TN, rolling past No. 5 Northern Essex, 11-0, Monday night in five innings.
The triumph advanced the No. 1 seed Runners to the NJCAA D III World Series semifinal round for the first time since 2021.
The win was a nice bounce-backl game for the Roadrunners, who were eliminated from the World Series by Northern Esex a year ago.
"They have a really nice team and we expected a tough match up," said Coach Rob Valli. "But our guys go into every game expecting to win, and they played with great confidence tonight."
Aaron Graeber, Rocko Brzezniak, and Cole Fowler collected 2 RBIs each to lead a relentless offensive assault.
The Runners jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to RBIs by Felix Diaz and Rocko Brzezniak. Graeber extended the lead to 4-0 in the second with a two-run triple while Fowler belted a two-run double to make it 6-0 and put the Runners in clear control of the final outcome. RCSJ added five more runs over the next three innings to close out the scoring.
Winning pitcher Devin Sweeney hurled a masterpiece, allowing two hits and no earned runs while striking out 9 in five innings of work.
"Devin was lights out -- he just had a lot of guys swinging, he was making good pitches, and kept to a low pitch count," said Valli.
The Runners advance to the tournament semifinals. Next up is showdown with No. 2 Dallas College-Eastfield Tuesday in a 5:30 start.
