Box score

Glassoboro, NJ ... The College of New Jersey baseball team suffered a 14-1 defeat at the hands of Kean University in the championship round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament.

The Lions (23-19) were eliminated from the tournament as the Cougars (32-10) seized the title and will be granted an automatic bid to the NCAA championship.

TCNJ had to win a pair of games yesterday to reach the final round of play defeating Rowan University 6-4 and Montclair State 6-4. But a rested Kean squad knocked out 19 hits to put the Lions hopes of a repeat title out of reach.

The Cougars scored single runs in the second, third, and fourth innings, but exploded for five in the fifth to take a 8-0 lead. The gap was simply too far to overcome as starter Julian Diaz (5-1) was difficult to solve. The right-hander struck out eight in six inning, five of which he caught looking.

Junior Jason Zegarski (Lawrenceville, NJ/Lawrence) rapped out three hits to raise his season average to .388. Senior Chris Esperon (Union, NJ/Union Catholic) stroked a pair of hits as did freshman third baseman Nick Cifelli (Ewing, NJ/Ewing).

TCNJ will now await word from the NCAA selection committee to see if they receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Championships. The Lions received an at-large bid into the tournament in 2008.