Ewing, NJ … The College of New Jersey won its opening round game of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship Tournament, defeating William Paterson University, 18-6 on Tuesday afternoon in George Ackerman Park.
 
The Lions (28-10) will now face Rutgers-Newark on Friday at 3:30 at Kean University. The Scarlet Raiders dropped a 10-3 decision to Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. In the third NJAC tourney game played, Kean slipped past Ramapo College, 4-3.
 
TCNJ produced a ton of offense, but no one had a bigger hand in that than freshman Thomas Persichetti (Hamilton, NJ/Notre Dame). The rookie outfielder lit up George Ackerman Park with a tremendous performance, going 6-for-6 with three doubles, two singles, and a triple. He also knocked it four runs, scored four times, and stole a base.
 
Sophomore Tommy McCarthy (Allentown, NJ/Allentown) enjoyed a three-hit day and Zachary Shindler (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) drove in three runs, scored three, and swiped three bases. On the day, the Lions' offense generate a season-high 10 extra base hits. Sophomore Zac deRocco (Red Bank, NJ/Middletown South) came on to pitch two and third-thirds innings of relief to earn the decision. Freshman Nickolas Kleftogiannis (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) tossed the final two innings of scoreless relief.
 
A 4-1 game turned into a potential blowout when the Lions plated eight runs in the fourth inning. Shindler and Persichetti both roped two-run doubles to the left-center field gap to highlight the inning.
 
The Pioneers, however, battled back with five runs of their own in the fifth. Rookie Eric Breun led the offense with two-run double to right-center field. Breun finished with two hits in the game.
 
Leading 12-6, the Lions kept their foot on the gas pedal, tallying two runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. Persichetti lined his fifth hit of the day to left in the sixth to score McCarthy. In the seventh, senior CJ Gearhart (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) belted a towering home run to left-center field for his second round tripper of the season.
 
In the eighth, Persichetti came up with two outs and ripped his sixth hit of the day, a double down the left-field line. Patrick Anderson (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) followed with a two-bagger to left-center to score Persichetti. Junior Steven Bucci (Washington Twp., NJ/Washington Twp.) capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left to chase Shindler.
 
The set-up for the second round of the NJAC tournament has TCNJ facing Rutgers-Newark at 3:30 p.m. William Paterson will face Ramapo College at noon and Kean University will host Rowan University at 7 p.m. The remainder of the tournament is currently scheduled to be played at Kean University in Union, NJ.