EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ baseball team enters this weekend's NJAC Tournament quarterfinals on a four-game winning streak, and the hot stretch of play couldn't have come at a better time. The winning streak vaulted the Lions out of a likely single elimination first round game into sixth place, allowing TCNJ to bypass the uncertainty of a winner-take-all game. The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship rounds will all be best-of-three series.
 
TCNJ will play at third-seeded Ramapo in its quarterfinal series with a doubleheader on Friday followed by Game 3 on Saturday, if necessary.
 
Ramapo, We Meet Again
In a weird, shortened season without many true non-conference games, TCNJ and Ramapo have actually already played four games this season. On March 27, the teams played a non-conference doubleheader at George Ackerman Park. TCNJ won game one, 10-6, on the strength of a six-run sixth inning, and Ramapo followed with a 5-1 victory in game two.
 
The teams reconvened on April 10 again at TCNJ, this time in a standard NJAC doubleheader. The teams again split, with TCNJ taking game one, 5-4, on an Aydon Chavis go-ahead single in the bottom of the eighth inning. In game two, Ramapo won, 8-1.
 
NJAC Success
Without an NJAC Tournament in 2020, the Lions enter this year's event as the defending champions. TCNJ won the league title in 2019, making it two titles in three years after also winning in 2017. TCNJ has won seven NJAC baseball titles since the year 2000, the most in the conference in that time. Kean has six titles in that time, and Rowan follows with five. Rowan is the top seed in this year's tournament, and Kean is in the five spot.
 
Goodall's Big Week
Freshman catcher Ryan Goodall followed a week where he hit better than .700 with a train of awards this week. On Monday, he earned his first NJAC Player of the Week award. On Tuesday, he was named to D3baseball.com's Team of the Week, a national award. On Wednesday, he was named both the NJAC Player of the Year and the NJAC Rookie of the Year. He's the first known baseball player in NJAC history to win both awards in the same year. You can read more about that here.
 
Take Three!
TCNJ has shown a penchant for the three-bagger in 2021, notching 14 triples so far this season. That ranks them second in the conference behind William Paterson and 25^th in the nation in that category. The Lions actually move up the rankings list when you consider triples per game. The Lions rank 13^th nationally in that statistic.