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BALTIMORE – The No. 8/7 TCNJ baseball team overcame an early 3-0 deficit to take the lead in its NCAA Regional opener against Susquehanna at Johns Hopkins, but a pair of ninth-inning runs pushed the River Hawks past the Lions, 5-4.
 
Susquehanna took a 3-0 lead with a run in the third and two more in the fifth off starting pitcher Peter Nielsen. In the fifth, a two-run double pushed the Susquehanna lead to 3-0, but Nielsen induced a fly out to center to end the inning. That stranded two men in scoring position.
 
Limiting the damage paid off in the home half of the fifth. The Lions started the inning with a leadoff single from Cameron Cane. That brought Gary Otten to the dish, and he crushed a 2-1 pitch deep to left to put the Lions on the board with his first career home run. That cut the TCNJ deficit to 3-2.
 
Nielsen got a double play to stop a burgeoning Susquehanna rally before it could net any runs in the top of the sixth, and TCNJ responded by the tying the game in the bottom half. David Cardona III led off with a single, and Tommy McCarthy doubled him to third. With one out, Cane reached on an infield single to score Cardona, tying the score at 3-3. Cane was 2-for-4, joining Cardona, McCarthy and Matt Giacose with two hits apiece.
 
The Lions took their first lead when they pushed a run across in the seventh. Giacose led off with a double, and he was at third with two outs. Cardona lifted a deep fly to dead center that got over Nick Berger's head, netting him a double while easily scoring Giacose for a 4-3 advantage.
 
The score stayed there until the top of the ninth. Dylan Crowley came in the eighth inning and immediately got a double play to end the Susquehanna inning, but he ran into trouble in the ninth. The River Hawks led off with a walk, a single, and a two-run double down the right-field line to leapfrog back into the lead, 5-4. Crowley stranded the runner at second, but the Lions went 1-2-3 in the home half of the ninth.
 
Nielsen went 7.1 innings, allowing three runs on 13 hits. All but one of those were singles. The Lions hit into two double plays early in the game, including an inning-ender with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first.
 
The Lions will face Farmingdale State in an elimination game Saturday at 11 a.m. Should TCNJ win, the Lions would play again later on Saturday, following the winner's bracket game between Johns Hopkins and Susquehanna. First pitch for the Lions and Farmingdale State is scheduled for 11 a.m.