Box Score


Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey baseball team dropped the opening round game of the New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament to Kean University 8-3.
 
The Lions move into the loser's bracket in the second round, but the status of their next game remains uncertain. Montclair State University, the top seed in the tournament, forfeited its game with Ramapo College earlier today. The future of the Red Hawks' participation in the remainder of the tournament was discussed in a meeting of committee members on Tuesday evening. A final determination will be made following a conference call at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
 
Senior Mike Galeotafiore (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) had pair of hits in the game, while freshman Jacob Dewitt (Florence, NJ/Florence) drove in two runs.
 
TCNJ got off to a solid start, scoring two runs in the first inning. Juniors Scott Kelly (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-North) walked and Jonathan Gabriel (Orefield, PA/Parkland) reached on an infield single. Galeotafiore followed with an infield single of his own before junior Michael Murphy (Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech) drove in Kelly with a sacrifice fly. Dewitt followed with a base hit to right field, staking the Lions with a 2-0 lead.
 
The Cougars erased the deficit quickly, erupting for six runs on seven hits in the bottom of the frame. Dylan Laguna had the big blow, knocking a three-run home run to left-center field. Kean plated another run in the seventh to provide right-hander Christopher Cirlincione with a comfortable lead.
 
Galeotafiore doubled to left-center field to lead off the sixth inning. He advanced to second on a Murphy ground ball to the right side and scored when Dewitt grounded out to shortstop. But that would be all the runs TCNJ's offense would produce in the game.
 
Senior Dominic Capuano (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) did an excellent job out of the bullpen to keep the game within striking distance. He threw four and one-third scoreless innings and limited the Cougars to just one hit while striking out two. Freshman Benito Gonzalez (Perth Amboy, NJ/Princeton) allowed just one unearned run over two and one-third innings of work.
 
Following the bracket format for the NJAC tourney, TCNJ would visit Montclair State on Thursday afternoon in the second round. Because there is question as to whether the Red Hawks will continue competing in the conference playoffs, it is possible that the Lions would not play on Thursday and advance to the third round on Saturday. At this point, however, nothing will be official until the committee makes a determination this evening. At that point, TCNJ's schedule for Thursday will be posted.