Auburndale, FL... The College of New Jersey baseball team defeated 15th ranked University of Southern Maine on Thursday afternoon by a final score of 2-0. Joe Cirillo (Fairfield, NJ/DePaul Catholic) was dominant on the mound, as he earned the victory and went 8 innings with no runs allowed and only fours hits. He struck out eight batters, and was locked in with his control as he did not walk any. 

The Lions got on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Tommy McCarthy (Allentown, NJ/Allentown) came up with a clutch two out RBI, as he singled in Danny Borup (Plainsboro, NJ/West Windsor South) for the first run of the day. 

The Huskies had a runner on first with one out in the fifth, however the Lions defense shut down the opportunity. David Cardona III (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) threw out the runner trying to steal second, and a couple of pitches later McCarthy made a diving stop moving to his right and flipped it to Cirillo to end the inning. Cirillo was tremendous on the mound, yet his teammates flashed the leather behind him and made several plays that had potential to be a hit. 

In the bottom of the seventh, the Lions pushed an insurance run across. With two outs, Borup singled just past the Huskies' diving shortstop, and Cardona III hustled around third and scored to make it 2-0. 

Matt Curry (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) came out of the bullpen for the top of the ninth inning. He struck out the first two batters he faced, and got the final out with a fly out to Borup to earn the save and seal the win. 

Borup continued his early season success, as he went 1-3 with a walk, an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base. 

The win for Cirillo was the 20th of his remarkable career.

The Lions will play a doubleheader tomorrow against Suffolk University, with game one starting at 9:00 AM.