EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ baseball team entered the bottom of the ninth inning against Rutgers-Camden on Thursday at George Ackerman Park trailing by two runs. It wasn't from a lack of offense, though. Entering that final at-bat, the Lions already had 14 hits, but they only had five runs on the board.
So, when two of the first three hitters made outs in the bottom of the ninth, it appeared all of that offense may go to waste. It didn't. The Lions rallied for three runs after two outs to walk off with an 8-7 victory.
With
Avery Epstein on second with two outs in the ninth and Camden ahead, 7-5,
Aydon Chavis reached on a fielding error to keep the game alive.
Grant Sible came up as a pinch hitter, and with Chavis running on a 1-1 pitch, Sible doubled down the third-base line. Epstein scored easily from third, and Chavis followed him home without a play. That tied the score at 7-7.
Jack Haynes was intentionally walked to put the force back into play, and that brought
Sebastian JnoBaptiste to the plate. He had already homered in the first inning, and he came through again with a lined single to center to score Sible for an 8-7 TCNJ victory.
After JnoBaptiste's home run in the first, Camden took the lead with a four-run third inning. TCNJ got two of them back in the fourth. Chavis tripled home Epstein, and
Joey Cruciata followed with a double to left to plate Chavis.
R.J. Concepcion hit a two-run homer in the seventh to push the Camden lead back to 6-3, but TCNJ returned the favor with two on its side in the eighth. Haynes had an RBI single and JnoBaptiste brought home a run when he beat out a double-play ball at first. Haynes went 3-for-5, and JnoBaptiste had three RBIs.
Camden scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth to make it 7-5, but the Lions canceled that policy with their two-out magic in the bottom of the frame.
Alec Schwartz earned the victory in relief, holding the Lions in the game with 2.2 innings of work. He allowed three hits and one run.
Ryan Goodall reached base four times, going 3-for-4 with a walk.
The two teams return to action on Friday at George Ackerman Park for Senior Day. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.
