Washington, Pa. … The College of New Jersey baseball team came out roaring in the opening game of the 2016 NCAA Mideast Regional tournament, defeating Ohio Wesleyan, 10-0 at Ross Memorial Park in Washington, Pa.
 
Senior Steven Volpe (Cherry Hill, NJ/Eastern Regional) put forth one of the best efforts of his career, pitching eight innings of shutout baseball against a talented line-up that entered the day ranked second in the nation in batting average. He had great support from his offense as the Lions (31-10) scored four runs in the first inning and produced three more multiple-run innings to keep the Battling Bishops (27-15) at a distance throughout the contest.
 
TCNJ will now await the outcome of the La Roche College and Widener University game and play the winner at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow. The Redhawks are the top seed in the tournament, while the Pride drew the eighth seed.
 
"After being off for ten days, these guys came out and hit the ball very well," said Head Coach Dean Glus. "Volpe is our senior on the staff and he came up big. That is probably the best I have seen him throw all year."
 
The Lions displayed no signs of NCAA jitters in the opening frame. Volpe struck out a pair in the top of the first and the offense struck for four runs on five hits and three stolen bases in the bottom of the inning. Senior John Rizzi (Long Hill, NJ/Watchung Hills) was hit by a pitch and sophomore Patrick Anderson (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) followed with a base hit to right-center. A double steal put runners at second and third and Garen Turner (Hainesport, NJ/Rancocas Valley) doubled down the left-field line scored both.
 
Junior Alex Christian (Milltown, NJ/Spotswood) and sophomore Mike Follet (Marlton,  NJ/Cherokee) delivered two-out, RBI singles to give Volpe a four-run cushion to take the mound in the second.
 
 
A sacrifice fly off the bat of Patrick Roberts (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) and an unearned stretched the lead to 6-0 in the second.
 
"You always feel much more comfortable pitching with a lead," said Volpe. "Our guys on offense did such a great job scoring runs early and then continuing to add to the lead. The way I try to think through the game with the lead like that is to still treat it like it's a 0-0 game and stick with the game plan."
 
In the third, the Battling Bishops strung together three singles to load the bases. Volpe bared down and struck out the clean-up hitter C.J. Casino swinging with a straight change and then froze Aaron Strausbaugh with a breaking ball to strike out the side and end the threat.
 
"I tried to mix it up with some breaking balls and change-ups and fortunately it worked out," said Volpe.
 
Rizzi was hit by a pitch for the second time in the fourth and was forced out on a fielder's choice by Anderson. Roberts laced a run-scoring single to left and Turner went the other way an RBI base hit to make it an 8-0 score.
 
Turner and Roberts accounted for five of the Lions nine runs batted in. On the day, Turner went 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Gearhart and Christian also had two hits, while Rizzi, ad Christian and Anderson scored twice. TCNJ also swiped five bases in the game, including two apiece by Turner and Rizzi.
 
"We capitalized on walks and turned some singles into doubles," said Turner. "We had a lot of guys in scoring position and did a great job putting the ball in play to keep scoring runs."
 
Volpe matched a career-high with seven strikeouts in the game. Senior Joe DiLorenzo (West Orange, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) pitched a scoreless ninth and struck out two.