LUGO, VAZQUEZ KEY MIDDLESEX PAST OCEAN CC 11-3

Dylan Lugo continued his torrid pace at the plate and Joshua Vazquez hurled a nine-inning complete game as Middlesex College won a key Region 19 matchup against Ocean CC, 11-3.

Middlesex outhit Ocean CC 15-5 and improved their record to 28-16 on the season. Ocean CC fell to 17-13. The Colts took two out of three against the Vikings this season.

The game was scoreless through two full innings before Middlesex broke things open with a six-run third. The Colts would extend that lead to 10-0 before Ocean CC finally got on the board with three runs in the bottom of the fifth.

That would be the only inning Ocean would get to Vazquez as the sophomore righty was masterful the rest of the way. Vazquez scattered six hits and allowed three earned runs while striking out seven across nine innings to pick up his first win of the year.

Middlesex had a number of standouts at the plate, led by Lugo who has been on fire the past week. The freshman right fielder went 4-5 with two runs and two stolen bases. Lugo is 16-33 (.485) over his past nine games and has had at least two hits in six of those nine games.

John Oranchak, Natanael Friedman, Joshua Rodriguez and Alex Turner each had two hits and Roberto Gonzalez, and Rodriguez had two RBIs each. Rodriguez also connected for his second home run of the season.

Middlesex is in a tight race for fourth place in Region 19 as teams are jockeying for playoff seeding. The Colts have now won series against RCSJ-Cumberland and Ocean, the two teams closest to them in the standings and they will face Camden CC, the other team in contention, in a three-game series starting this weekend.

The Colts return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Sussex CC with first pitch scheduled for 3:30PM.