EWING, N.J. – Part II of the battle of top-ten teams took place on Thursday afternoon at George Ackerman Park, and No. 6/4 Rowan scored four runs in its last two at-bats to push past No. 3/7 TCNJ, 6-2, to earn the series sweep. The loss is the first of the season at home for TCNJ, who is now 9-1 at George Ackerman Park.
 
The game started as a pitchers' duel with TCNJ's Matt Volpe and Rowan's Danny Serreino matching zeroes through the first four innings. Both pitchers worked out of trouble in the second inning. Rowan stranded a pair of runners in the top half, and the Lions left the bases loaded in the bottom half.
 
Rowan broke through in the top of the fifth. After loading the bases with nobody out, Volpe got a strikeout and a pop out without a run crossing, but a two-run single from Dillon Mendel broke the scoreless tie. That hit also broke Volpe's streak without allowing an earned run at 16.2 innings.
 
The Lions got one back in the bottom of the sixth. David Cardona III led off with a double, and he moved station-to-station on a pair of groundouts. He scored on Tommy McCarthy's groundout, cutting the Rowan lead to 2-1.
 
In the top of the seventh, Nickolas Kleftogiannis came in relief of Volpe, and he induced a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded to keep the Lions' deficit at one run.
 
That paid off when Grant Sible led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk against Serreino, and he scored one out later on Thomas Persichetti's double into the right-centerfield gap.
 
Rowan retook the lead in the top of the eighth, scoring two unearned runs off Kleftogiannis to take a 4-2 lead. TCNJ looked to threaten in the bottom of the eighth with two runners on and just one out, but Rowan's middle infielders linked up for a pair of fielder's choice plays to keep its lead steady.
 
Rowan added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth, and the Lions could only get one runner on in its final at-bat.
 
Ryan Fischer singled and walked twice, and McCarthy singled and walked once. Volpe allowed two runs and six hits in six-plus innings of work while getting a no-decision.
 
TCNJ returns to action on Saturday with a doubleheader at William Paterson at 11:30 a.m.