Box score

Haverford, PA... A four-run first inning was all the offense The College of New Jersey baseball team would need as they registered their sixth consecutive win with an 8-1 victory over Haverford College on Friday afternoon.

The Lions (10-2) received another dominant effort from starting pitcher Robert Graber (Franklin Lakes, NJ/Ramapo) as the sophomore went eight strong innings to earn his second win of the season. The sophomore right-hander was touched for just one run on five hits to stymie a streaking Fords squad that had won 10 of their first 11 games to open the season.

Junior Mike Galeotafiore (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) and sophomore Michael Murphy (Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech) led TCNJ's offense each driving in two runs on two hits in the game. Junior Jimmy Ruzich (Verona, NJ/Montclair Kimberly Academy) scored three times in the game and sophomore Nick Cifelli (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) had another multi-hit game in the win.

Galeotafiore lined a single to right field in the first to open the scoring before Ruzich scored on a wild pitch to take a 2-0 lead. Murphy tripled down the right-field line to knock in his team-leading 13th run of the season, and Cifelli singled to put the Lions up 4-0 before Haverford got to the plate.

TCNJ tacked on two more runs when Murphy laced a run-scoring single to right to score Ruzich and sophomore Jonathan Gabriel (Orefield, PA/Parkland) lifted a sacrifice fly to plate Galeotafiore.

Graber cruised through the first three innings allowing just one base runner, but ran into some trouble in the fourth. The Fords loaded the bases with nobody out and the clean-up hitter at the plate, but the right-hander called on the Lions' closest friend thus far in 2011 by inducing a 1-2-3 double play. Graber retired the next hitter on a ground out to second and returned to the dugout unscathed.

Haverford broke through with a run in the sixth, but TCNJ pushed across two more in the ninth to ice the contest. Senior Joe Marchitelli (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) struck out three in the final frame to secure the Lions 10th win of the season.

The Lions head to Elizabethtown College tomorrow for a 1 p.m. start.