EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ baseball team held Military Appreciation Day on Sunday during its doubleheader with Rutgers-Newark in NJAC action. After dropping the first game, 11-5, the Lions roared back on the Scarlet Raiders in game two with a 16-2 victory.
Game One: Rutgers-Newark 11, TCNJ 5
Rutgers-Newark scored four runs in the top of the first inning as just one ball during the rally left the infield. That put the Lions into an immediate hole, but TCNJ did get one of those runs back in the bottom of the second.
Joe Oczkowski singled to lead off the inning, and he later scored on
Joey Cruciata's two-out single.
Three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings expanded the Newark lead to 10-1, but the Lions scored two more in the home half of the fifth.
Justin Marcario had a two-run, two-out double to right center that chased home both
Zach Weiner and
Chris Cote. Weiner led off the inning with an infield single, and Cote doubled just inside the third base bag. That made it 10-3 Newark.
Trailing 11-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Lions gathered some momentum that carried into game two. The first four batters all reached, including singles by Oczkowski and
Zack Bowman and a two-run double by
Andrew Fernandez to make it 11-5.
Sebastian JnoBaptiste followed with a walk, but that was as far as the threat went.
Oczkowski went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, and Fernandez was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.
Chris Reeder also had a pair of hits.
Michael Silver was strong in relief. He pitched 4.2 innings and allowed just a run on four hits without issuing a walk.
Game Two: TCNJ 16, Rutgers-Newark 2
The flow of the day started going in TCNJ's direction towards the end of the first game, and it definitely went that way at the start of the second game. TCNJ put up multiple runs in each of its first four at-bats, including a five-spot in the second inning.
That was all more than enough for freshman starting pitcher
Jackson Malouf to earn his first career win. Malouf struck out seven hitters while allowing just one run in his six innings. He had all the run support he needed from that early offensive flurry.
Mike Lagravenis led off the bottom of the first with a double, and it all went TCNJ's way from there. He later scored on a Cote fielder's choice, and Fernandez singled to left with two outs to bring Cote home to make it 2-0.
TCNJ broke it open in the second. Six straight batters reached after the first out. Reeder singled home Lagravenis, who had his second hit in as many innings. A two-run Cote single made it 6-0, and Oczkowski stayed hot with a run-scoring double to make it 7-0.
The Lions scored their next four runs in the third and fourth innings thanks to some shoddy Newark defense, and it led to an 11-1 lead heading into the seventh. In that inning, Reeder singled with one out, and he came around on Oczkowski's singled through the left side to make it 12-1.
The Lions scored four more times in the eighth, highlighted by JnoBaptiste's double and
Joey Cruciata's RBI triple.
Cruciata had a team-leading three hits in the second game. Oczkowski reached base four times thanks to a pair of hits and a pair of walks.
Chris Cassini and
Brian Brown combined to pitch three innings of scoreless relief in support of Malouf.
The Lions return to action on Monday when they face William Paterson at home at 3:30 p.m.
