Box Score

Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey baseball team battled its way to a 5-4 victory over William Paterson University in New Jersey Athletic Conference action in George Ackerman Park on Friday afternoon.
 
The Lions picked themselves off the mat after suffering a 6-0 loss to the Pioneers yesterday to capture an important win and split the season series with WPU.
 
Freshman Ben Varone (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) and sophomore Garen Turner (Hainesport, NJ/Rancocas Valley) delivered clutch hits for TCNJ, while sophomore Steven Volpe (Cherry Hill, NJ/Eastern Regional) earned the decision on the mound.
 
The Pioneers climbed on top 2-0 without the luxury of a hit in the first. Volpe had trouble finding the strike zone early on and issued four free passes in the inning. A failed pick-off led to another run, but Dave Rondesko (South River, NJ/South River) picked up a loose ball and fired a strike to catcher Matt Facas (Florham Park, NJ/Hanover Park) and cut down a runner at the plate to end the inning.
 
The Lions bounced back with three runs in the second. Michael Murray (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg) and Rondesko led off with back-to-back singles. Rondesko moved up to second on the throw to third and TCNJ quickly had runners on second and third. Varone then turned on a fastball and drilled a double to deep left field to plate two runs. The rookie later scored on a wild pitch to put the Lions ahead 3-2.
 
TCNJ scored two more in the fourth to extend the lead to 5-2. With the bases soaked, Turner moked a single back through the box to score Facas and John Rizzi (Long Hill, NJ/Watchung Hills). It was the 16^th and 17^th RBI of the season for Turner.
 
Volpe settled in after a tough start. He went six innings, limiting the Pioneers to three hits.  Volpe left the game with two runners on and a 5-2 lead in the seventh. Both of those runners would score, but the Lions would hold for his fourth win of the season.
 
In that seventh inning, Rob Pasternack singled to right-center to score Mike Knauf, who had walked. K.C. Abel then lofted a sacrifice fly to deep right-center to score Mike Rowe. Rowe was on base after a hard single down the left-field line. TCNJ left-hander Michael Correa (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Twp.) got a pop up and strikeout to end the inning.
 
The Pioneers loaded the bases in the eighth. With Lions' reliever Benito Gonzalez (Perth Amboy, NJ/Princeton) on the mound and two out, K.C. hit a hard shot down to third. Murray blocked the ball, kept his composure, and fired a strike to first to end the threat and maintain the lead.
 
Gonzalez pitched a scoreless ninth to register his first save of the season. The victory improved TCNJ's season record to 16-7 and 5-3 in the NJAC. The loss dropped the Pioneers to 9-12-1 and 3-4-1 in the conference.
 
Turner, Murray, and Rizzi each had two hits in the win. Rowe and Trevor Haughney had two hits a piece for the Pioneers.
 
TCNJ visits Ramapo College for an NJAC doubleheader starting at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow.