UNION, N.J. – The TCNJ baseball team is heading into the NJAC Tournament on the right note, extending its winning streak to four after a doubleheader sweep at Kean on Saturday afternoon. In game one,
Ryan Goodall hit two home runs as TCNJ prevailed, 8-4. In game two,
Avery Epstein hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to give TCNJ a 10-9 lead that it wouldn't relinquish.
GAME ONE: TCNJ 8, KEAN 4
After hitting two home runs on Friday against Rutgers-Camden, Goodall launched two more in the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday. He staked the Lions to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with his first homer that also scored
Sebastian JnoBaptiste.
TCNJ took a 3-0 lead when JnoBaptiste scored again, this time on a
Chris Reeder sacrifice fly. After singling in the first, he walked in the third before scoring on the sacrifice fly.
Kean tied the game in the fourth thanks to a couple of bases loaded walks and a fielder's choice, and it stayed that way until the seventh.
Chris Cote and Goodall each singled to start the frame, and they were at second and third with two outs when
Joe Oczkowski came through with a two-run single through the left side. That made it 5-3.
Aydon Chavis came up next, and he sent the first pitch he saw out to left center to double the advantage to four runs, 7-3.
Kean scored one in the bottom of the eighth, but Goodall led off the ninth with his second home run of the game to make it 8-4.
Goodall has six home runs on the season, all coming in a four-game stretch. He has three two-home run games in the last week. He was 4-for-5 in game one.
Joseph Felipe earned the win, going six innings while allowing three runs on just two hits.
Zach Gelo earned the save with three innings of one-hit relief, allowing just one run.
GAME TWO: TCNJ 10, KEAN 9
TCNJ used a ninth-inning rally to earn a victory for the second time this weekend, scoring four runs in top of the ninth in game two to earn the sweep of Kean.
After trailing, 4-1, the Lions tied the score with a
Cameron Cane sac fly in the fourth and a two-run Oczkowski single in the sixth.
Cote doubled in the seventh to give the Lions a 5-4 lead, and he later scored on another Cane sacrifice fly to make it 6-4. That lead was short-lived, though, as Kean hit a grand slam in the home half of the seventh and added another in the eighth to make it 9-6.
That's when the heroics began. JnoBaptiste led off with a single, and Cote followed with a walk. Goodall singled through the right side to score JnoBaptiste, and it was 9-7.
After an out, Epstein picked the perfect time for his first career home run. The senior, in the last regular season game of his career, hit a three-run homer to left center to give the Lions a 10-9 lead.
David Stec worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn the save in support of
Chris Cassini, who picked up the win in relief.
Goodall and Oczkowski each had three hits to pace the offense in game two. Cote also had two hits.
With its four-game winning streak, the Lions moved into sixth place in the NJAC standings and will play on the road in the first round of the NJAC Tournament next weekend at Ramapo. The teams will begin a best-of-three quarterfinal series on Friday afternoon with games at noon and 4 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m. All three games will be at Ramapo.
