Box Score

 Winter Haven, Fla … Senior Chris Crutcher tossed eight shutout innings as Keene State College defeated The College of New Jersey 7-0 on Sunday afternoon in Winter Haven, Fla.
 
The right-hander limited the Lions (1-4) to five hits and struck out five to raise his record to 2-0. The Owls (4-5) won their second straight game as they rapped out 13 hits on the afternoon.
 
The game was a pitcher's duel early on as junior Brendan Kelly (Butler, NJ/Butler) matched Crutcher's effectiveness. Both pitchers fired blanks through the first four innings. Crutcher retired the first ten batters he faced before sophomore Anthony Cocuzza (Absecon, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) laced a single to right field. He set the Lions down in order in the fifth to keep the game scoreless.
 
Kelly was equally impressive through the first four innings. The Owls broke through with a run in the fifth as Greg Bates roped a one-out double to left-center field. He advanced on 4-3 putout and came home when Nick Vita singled just past a diving Josh Limon (Eastampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley).
 
Keene nearly tracked on a second run when a throw by catcher Paul Searles (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel) off a wild pitch sailed into left field. Vita attempted to score, but junior Joe Dispoto (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) backed up the play and gunned down the runner at the plate to keep the score 1-0.
 
The Owls erupted for four runs on five hits in the sixth to open up a 5-0 lead. Bates delivered an RBI single and Tanner Chase knocked in a pair with a line drive base hit to left-center. They would have added two more had it not been for outstanding defensive plays from Kelly. With runners at first and third and nobody out, Keene attempted a squeeze play. Kelly hustled off the mound and flipped the ball with his glove to Searles to get the runner at the plate by a hair.
 
With the bases loaded and one out, Billy Hartmann hit a high chopper off the plate to the right side. Kelly raced to his left, gloved the ball, and fired on the run to Searles to get the force play at the plate. It was the third consecutive putout at the plate for the Lions.
 
Cocuzza and senior Scott Kelly (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor) lined back-to-back singles to open the seventh. But a hot shot by senior Michael Murphy (Staten Island, NY/Staten Island Tech) resulted in an unassisted double play by Chase to squash the rally.
 
Kelly went six innings and struck out two. Alan Genitempo (Nutley, NJ/Nutley) pitched a scoreless eighth inning and the Owls tacked on two runs in the ninth.
 
Cocuzza and Kelly each finished with two hits. Searles and Dispoto also singled for the Lions.
 
TCNJ returns to action tomorrow morning when they face Rhode Island College at 10 a.m.