WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – After Sunday afternoon's tough loss to No. 7 Concordia-Chicago on Sunday, the TCNJ baseball team responded with a resounding 15-4 victory over No. 12 Southern Maine on Monday morning at Chain of Lakes Park in the RussMatt Invitational. The Lions scored runs in seven of their nine at-bats.
 
The Lions had 13 hits, drew eight walks and four hit batsmen. In the first, the Lions loaded the bases with one out. Jacob Simon cleared them with a three-run double to left center, scoring Danny Borup, Thomas Persichetti and Tommy McCarthy.
 
Aydon Chavis led off the top of the second with his first collegiate hit. He scored later in the inning along with Borup on a two-run single from David Cardona III. That gave the Lions a 5-0 lead. Chavis was one of three Lions with multi-hit games, joining Borup and Cardona. Cardona went 3-for-5.
 
TCNJ (3-1) added a run each in the third and fourth innings. Simon led off the third inning with a walk, and he later scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0. After Southern Maine (4-2) scored a run in the bottom of the third to get on the board, the Lions got that run back in its next at-bat. Persichetti reached on an error to lead off the inning, and he soon stole second. A single from Cardona pushed him to third, and he scored on a McCarthy groundout to second base. That made it 7-1.
 
On the hill, Michael Walley mostly cruised through his first five innings. He allowed the run in the third, but Southern Maine didn't really threaten otherwise. In the sixth, Southern Maine put together a three-run inning on the strength of five hits, cutting the TCNJ lead to 7-4.
 
The Lions built upon their lead in the final three frames to keep the Huskies in the distance. In the seventh, Simon walked and moved to third on a pair of balks. Otten was hit by a pitch, and he stole second after two outs. Matt Giacose came through with a big two-out single up the middle to score both runs to give TCNJ a 9-4 lead. Giacose scored on a Borup base hit to cap the inning.
 
Persichetti scored on a throwing error in the eighth to make it 11-4, and the Lions finished the day with a four-run ninth inning. Otten doubled to start the inning, and Matt Volpe followed with his first career hit. Chavis had his second hit of the day in the next at-bat.
 
Dylan Crowley followed Walley onto the mound, picking up his second save of the season by pitching three innings of scoreless, one-hit relief.
 
TCNJ continues the RussMatt Invitational on Tuesday with a doubleheader against Hamilton (N.Y.) starting at 10:15 a.m.