by Trevor Dugan
Farmingdale State finishes off an impressive victory to advance in the Skyline Conference Championship
FINAL: Farmingdale State 10 – St. Joseph’s 4
TJ Cox: 9.0 IP 4 ER 2 K, W
Ryan Wasserman: 2-4, 2 R, RBI
Carmine Scardina: 2-5, 2 RBI
Ryan Plocker: 2-2, RBI, R pic.twitter.com/WYPxf7ovMt— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 8, 2026
Senior TJ Cox pitched a complete game Friday to lead Farmingdale State College to their 20th straight victory, a 10-4 win over St. Joseph’s University, and a berth in the Skyline Conference Championship final.
The defending Skyline Conference champs will face intrastate foe United States Merchant Marine Academy Sunday, May 10 at Farmingdale State College in the conference championship game, a rematch of Thursday night’s playoff matchup which Farmingdale State won, 3-2.
The Rams will need just one win to secure a second straight championship, while USMMA, coming from the losers bracket, will have to win twice.
The Rams seized the lead with a six-run third inning and never looked back, batting around and chasing St. Joseph’s starting pitcher Paul McNally from the mound. Batting with no outs and the bases loaded, sophomore shortstop Kaolis Delacruz drove in the game’s first run for Farmingdale State with an RBI single to left field. Two more runs scored when a throw by sophomore third baseman Alex Johnston sailed over his catcher’s leaping glove, pushing things to 3-0.
An RBI single by junior designated hitter Carmine Scardina, a wild pitch, and an RBI groundout led to three more runs for the Rams before St. Joseph’s sophomore reliever Ryan Reynolds brought the inning to a merciful end.
St. Joseph’s got a couple runs back in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by senior center fielder Joe Hackal and an RBI groundout by freshman Andrew Amarando to cut Farmingdale State’s lead to 6-2.
Reynolds and Cox would trade scoreless innings until the top of the sixth, when Farmingdale State added two runs on an RBI single by senior catcher Ryan Plocker and a perfectly executed suicide squeeze by junior second baseman Ryan Wasserman, stretching their lead to 8-2.
Farmingdale State pushed their run total to double digits in the top of the eighth when Skyline Conference Player of the Year Richie Heyder and Scardina ripped back-to-back RBI singles, bringing the lead to 10-2.
Senior first baseman Richie Heyder adds to the Farmingdale State lead with an RBI single
Carmine Scardina also had an RBI single in the inning, his second of the day
Farmingdale State 10 – Saint Joseph’s 2 pic.twitter.com/Hfan1JCIB4
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 8, 2026
St. Joseph’s mustered two final runs in the bottom of the eighth, scoring on a single by junior first baseman Joe Thatcher and an RBI fielder’s choice, but it was too little too late. Cox escaped the inning without any further damage, and finished off his complete game in the bottom of the ninth to bring Farmingdale State within one win of a second consecutive Skyline Conference championship.
Farmingdale State improves to 26-9 on the year with the win, a remarkable feat considering their rough start to 2026 that included an 0-4 conference record as of March 30. Their toughest test during their 20 game winning streak has been USMMA, the only team to lose to the Rams by less than two runs since April 7. Farmingdale State has defeated USMMA by a score of 3-2 twice in that span.
The Rams and Mariners’ fourth and final meeting Sunday comes with plenty of buildup, a season’s worth of aspirations, and a conference championship on the line. Axcess Baseball will have full coverage from 11 a.m. at Farmingdale State College.