BALTIMORE – The No. 8/7 TCNJ baseball team earned a spot in the Baltimore Region final with a stirring 7-4 victory over Susquehanna on Saturday night at Johns Hopkins. The Lions waited out a weather delay of nearly two hours, but the wait proved to be worth it. The Lions avenged Friday's loss to Susquehanna while eliminating the second team from the regional in a single day.
 
TCNJ jumped out to an early lead with a three-run second inning. Jacob Simon doubled to center to start the inning, and Tommy McCarthy followed with a single. With two runners in scoring position and one out, Gary Otten singled home Simon to make it 1-0. Joe Oczkowski singled to left to score McCarthy to make it 2-0, and Danny Borup followed a couple hitters later with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
 
The Lions added single runs in both the third and the fifth. In the third, Simon led off the frame with a homer to left that grazed off Steve Lorenz's glove on its way over the fence. Oczkowski made it 5-0 with a two-out single to score Cardona in the fifth. Cardona led off that inning with a single.
 
Susquehanna came back with a run in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the sixth to cut its deficit to 5-4, but Cardona got one of those runs back in the top of the seventh. Cardona smacked his second home run of the regional – and second home run during play on Saturday – to lead off the inning. The deep shot to right gave the Lions a 6-4 lead.
 
The hot and humid day gave way to a balmy evening as the sun set across the Johns Hopkins campus. Lightning was a byproduct of that weather, and the umpires called the teams off the field at 8:39 p.m. after strikes in the area. The Lions were at-bat with a runner on first in the top of the eighth, leading 6-4. The game resumed after an hour-and-44-minute delay.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Susquehanna put two runners on with no outs. After Tim Schumacher got a strikeout, the River Hawks still had the go-ahead run at the plate. Adam Schreck drove a ball deep to right, and Giacose – for the second time in two games on Saturday – made a leaping grab against the right-field wall to rob a sure extra-base hit.
 
Giacose threw to second, where the Susquehanna runner hadn't tagged, and the Lions turned an improbable 9-6 double play to end the inning.
 
The Lions added insurance in the top of the ninth. Thomas Persichetti led off with a homer deep to left off a light pole to make it 7-4.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, Susquehanna led off with a pair of singles. Dylan Crowley induced a 6-4-3 double play for the first two outs of the inning, highlighted by a quick turn at second from Ryan Fischer and a big stretch at first from McCarthy. Crowley punctuated the night with a strikeout, sending the Lions into Sunday needing a pair of wins over host Johns Hopkins for an NCAA Tournament Regional victory.
 
The first game on Sunday will begin at noon.