Box Score


Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey baseball team won for the fifth time in six games, knocking off Gwynedd-Mercy College 7-2 on Wednesday afternoon at George Ackerman Park.
 
Senior Eric Lewis (Wantagh, NY/W.C. Mepham) was the story of the game, maintaining complete command to earn his third win of the season. The right-hander threw eight scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, and striking out four. Lewis (3-0) set the tone in the first inning, firing 11 pitches (all for strikes) to retire the side in order and continued to pepper the strike zone throughout the contest.
 
Junior Michael Murphy (Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech) collected a pair of hits, a run scored, and an RBI to lead TCNJ's offense. Junior Nick Cifelli (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) knocked in two runs, and senior Jimmy Ruzich (Verona, NJ/Montclair Kimberly Academy) added a run-scoring triple and scored twice in the game.
 
For the second straight day, the Lions came out hot, taking a 2-0 lead in the first. Junior Scott Kelly (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-North) walked, stole second, and advanced to third when the throw sailed into center field. Freshman Jacob Dewitt (Florence, NJ/Florence) grounded a ball just past the third baseman to put TCNJ on the board. Cifelli then turned on a fastball and ripped a base hit to right field to score Dewitt.
 
Senior Mike Galeotafiore (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) laced a run-scoring double to left field to highlight a three-run third inning. Cifelli followed with a sacrifice fly to stretch the lead to 5-0.
 
The Griffin bullpen quieted the Lions' offense and was perfect through the middle innings. Freshman Jimmy Minnenemeyer (Landsdale, PA/Landsdale Catholic) threw two perfect innings and struck out three. Local product Casey Clark (Lawrenceville, NJ/Notre Dame) also retired all three batters he faced in order, and leads the Griffins in appearances this season with seven.
 
TCNJ put the game away with a two-run seventh. After Dewitt walked with two outs, Ruzich lined a triple to right field and came home when Murphy drilled a shot to the right-center field gap for an RBI-double. Murphy and Dewitt lead the Lions with 13 RBIs.
 
Catcher John Burns (Levittown, PA/Neshaminy) had a quality afternoon at the plate. He went 3-for-5 with a pair of singles and a double. Sophomore Ryan Haley (Lancaster, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) had a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth.
 
The Lions (8-7) are above .500 for the first time since starting out 3-2. Gwynedd-Mercy fell to 8-7 with the loss.
 
The Lions visit Muhlenberg College on Saturday, March 24 for a non-conference double-header. The first game is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.