Photo courtesy of Pat McCarthy '18

Ewing, NJ … Alex Christian (Milltown, NJ/Spotswood) opened the 2017 season with flare as he blasted a pair of two-run home runs to lead The College of New Jersey to a 5-3 victory at Stevens Institution of Technology.
 
Christian went deep to center in the first and then homered to left field in the sixth. After homering twice in the first 182 at bats of his career, the senior first baseman tagged two long balls in his first three at bats of the season. Sophomore Michael Fischer (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) tossed six strong innings to register the mound victory as the Lions pitching staff allowed just four hits and the defense played errorless baseball.
 
TCNJ (1-0) got on the board quickly with three runs in the opening frame. With two outs, junior Zachary Shindler (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) singled to center and stole second. Junior Austin Lindsay (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) grounded to short and reached on a throwing error as Shindler came around to score. Christian made the Ducks (3-4) pay as he deposited his first homer to center field to put TCNJ up 3-0.
 
Rookie catcher A.J. Falconite cut the Stevens' deficit to 3-1 when he drove a homer to right field in the third. That would be the only run surrendered by Fisher (1-0) as he limited the Ducks to four hits, while striking out six.
 
With one out in the sixth, Lindsay notched his first hit in a Lions uniform before Christian cleared the left-field fence to extend the TCNJ lead to 5-1.
 
Junior right-hander Joe Cirillo (Fairfield, NJ/DePaul Catholic) came on to pitch the seventh and struck out two in his 2017 debut. Stevens nicked the Lions for two runs in the eighth, but junior Matt Curry (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) did a terrific job out of the bullpen to earn his first save of the season.
 
Entering the game with the bases loaded and nobody out, Curry induced a 4-6-3 double play. He ended the Steven's threat with a ground out. Curry struck out two in the ninth to secure the triumph in the Lions' long-awaited season opener.
 
Christian and Shindler each had two hits, while Lindsay scored twice.
 
TCNJ leaves tomorrow for sunny skies and warm weather as they will play nine games in the Winter Haven, Fla. region. They open their southern swing with a match-up against St. John Fisher College this Saturday at 6 p.m.