EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ baseball team opened the season with an impressive 7-3 victory over Alvernia on Wednesday afternoon at George Ackerman Park. TCNJ jumped out to a 6-0 lead after five innings. Tommy McCarthy led the offensive attack with three of the Lions' 12 hits. Three other players had two hits apiece.
 
TCNJ (1-0) got on the board in the second inning. Cameron Cane led off the inning with a double. McCarthy singled to move him to third, and Jacob Simon singled to center to score him. TCNJ added another run in the third inning when Danny Borup scored on a David Cardona III two-out single to center field.
 
TCNJ broke open the game in the fourth, scoring three unearned runs on two costly Alvernia errors. Gary Otten made the Golden Wolves pay for those mistakes with a two-run double to left field. He scored Simon and Ryan Fischer to make it 4-0. Otten moved to third on a fly out, and Danny Borup reached on an infield single to score Otten to push it to 5-0.
 
Thomas Persichetti ripped a leadoff homer deep to left field in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-0 TCNJ. He also scored the team's seventh run in the seventh inning. He led off with a double down the left-field line, and he scored on McCarthy's two-out double.
 
Alvernia (7-4) scored twice in the seventh to cut it 6-2. The Golden Wolves added another in the eighth to make it 7-3, but they never seriously threatened TCNJ's advantage.
 
Pitching a bullpen game, the Lions cycled through seven pitchers. Peter Nielsen started for the Lions, and he picked up the win after going three innings while allowing just two hits and striking out three. Zac deRocco pitched a spotless frame in the sixth inning, striking out one in the process.
 
Borup, Persichetti and Simon all had two hits. Zac deRocco pitched a spotless frame in the sixth inning, striking out one in the process.
 
The Lions head to Florida for the RussMatt Invitational. TCNJ will play nine games in eight days, starting with Benedictine on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.