DIAZ HURLS PERFECT GAME AS MIDDLESEX COLLEGE BASEBALL SWEEPS ORANGE CC IN 2023 OPENER

Coming off a historic 2022 season, Middlesex College Baseball picked up right where they left off, sweeping Orange County Community College by scores of 10-1 and 8-0.

Game 2 was particularly notable as Nicholas Diaz (Sophomore/Hamilton, NJ) threw the program's first perfect game since Mike Semia, who was perfect against Camden CC in 2006.

Mark Stricks also faced the minimum 21 batters in a game against Somerset CC in 1971. He took a perfect game to the final batter of the game before Gunther Wilkosz doubled, but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

The Colts (2-0) jumped out on top of Orange CC (0-2) right from the start in game one as Thomas O'Halloran (Freshman/Fords, NJ) singled leading off the first. Braden Ramirez (Sophomore/Middlesex, NJ) followed with a double and Giovanni Aresta (Sophomore/Old Bridge, NJ) drove them both home with a two-run double.

Carrying a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the third, Middlesex broke the game open with a five-run inning on the strength of five straight hits from the bottom of the lineup.

Michael Wansaw (Freshman/Elizabeth, NJ), Kiefer Goss (Sophomore/Hamilton, NJ) and O'Halloran each had RBIs in the inning and Jordan Brown (Sophomore/Piscataway, NJ) stroked a two-run double.

Middlesex tacked on solo runs in the fifth and sixth on a sacrifice fly by Goss and a single by Ramirez, respectively.

Ryan Pozo (Sophomore/Fords, NJ) allowed just one hit and one run over five innings to pick up the win. He struck out nine and walked one. Thomas Niedermaier (Sophomore/Bordentown, NJ) and Wansaw each threw a scoreless inning in relief with Wansaw striking out the side in the seventh to close out the win.

Ramirez, Nicholas Loniewski (Sophomore/South Plainfield, NJ) and Colby Chippendale (Sophomore/North Port, FL) each had two hits for Middlesex.

GAME ONE BOX

In game two, the story was Diaz who turned in one of the best pitching performances in program history.

Diaz faced the minimum 21 batters and struck out 14 of them. He allowed just one ball out of the infield all game, a flyout to center in the second inning, and sealed the perfect game with a strikeout of Orange CC's #3 batter.

He got all the support he needed in the first when O'Halloran led off with a single, stole second and third and scored on an RBI single by Connor Luckie (Sophomore/Hamilton, NJ).

Middlesex extended their lead in the second when Goss tripled and came in to score on an RBI groundout by Brown. The Colts built their lead to 4-0 in the fourth when Aresta scored on an error and O'Halloran drove home Brown with a single.

With Diaz cruising, the Colts 4-0 lead seemed insurmountable, and Luckie removed any doubt with a grand slam in the sixth inning to make the score 8-0.

From there, the only drama was whether Diaz could complete the perfect game. The righty struck out four of the final six batters, finishing the perfect game in style.

Diaz was named the Garden State Athletic Conference Player of the Week for his accomplishment.

Luckie was the offensive star of the game, going 3-4 with 4 RBIs. O'Halloran went 3-4 with 2 runs.

GAME TWO BOX