Ewing, NJ… The College of New Jersey baseball team swept Montclair State University on Saturday in a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader. They took game one by a final score of 5-4, and game two by a final tally of 12-2. TCNJ improves to 19-5 and 8-2 in the NJAC, while Montclair State drops to 16-8 and 4-6 in the conference.
 
In game one, the Lions scored first when Austin Lindsay (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) singled up the middle to push across Zachary Shindler (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) in the fourth. A few batters later, Patrick Anderson (Long Valley, NJ/Morris Central) made it a two run lead when he drove in Lindsay with an RBI sacrifice fly.

Starting pitcher Joe Cirillo (Fairfield, NJ/DePaul Catholic) was cruising along, and retired the first 14 Red Hawks. They were able to tie it up with a pair of runs in the sixth inning, yet the lead did not last long as the Lions went back on top in the seventh. Thomas Persichetti (Hamilton, NJ/Notre Dame) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The next batter was Shindler who made contact on a check swing, and the ball went under the Montclair shortstop's glove and two runs made their way across the plate.

Cirillo pitched into the ninth inning, and Matt Curry (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) entered the game to close it out. The Red Hawks were able to push two runs over, however Curry got the final out to earn his fifth save of the year. Cirillo moves into third place all time in program history in wins as he now has 23 on his career.

In the second game, the Lions drew first blood once again. Lindsay remained hot and ripped a double to left center that scored a pair of runs. A few batters later, Anderson drove in Lindsay with an RBI base hit, then Steve Bucci (Washington Twp, NJ/Washington Twp.) knocked in another with a single. Ryan Fischer (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) hit an RBI single past the second baseman to make it 5-0.

The Lions added one more run when Lindsay drove in another with a sac fly in the fourth inning. TCNJ was able to tack on six more runs, highlighted by a three run blast over the treeline by Ryan Fischer in the seventh inning. starting pitcher Brandon Zachary (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) was the winning pitcher, and he went 7.0 innings and allowed only two earned runs while striking out six.

TCNJ will return to the diamond on Tuesday, April 17th to face Farleigh Dickinson Florham at 3:30 pm.