EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ baseball team fell at home to William Paterson on Monday afternoon at George Ackerman Park. William Paterson broke open a close game with a five-run eighth inning to win, 11-3. Chris Reeder hit his second home run of the season to highlight the Lions' offensive attack while Joey Cruciata had a pair of base hits.
 
WPU scored twice in the top of the first, but the Lions' offense came back with a run in the home half. TCNJ loaded the bases thanks to walks to Mike Lagravenis and Chris Cote, and Joe Oczkowski bounced into a fielder's choice to score Zach Weiner to make it 2-1.
 
TCNJ pulled into a 2-2 tie with another single run in the bottom of the second inning. Jack Felipe reached on an error to lead off the inning, and he was at second with one out when Lagravenis came back to the plate. The freshman second baseman bounced a ball to short, but he beat the throw at first for an infield single. That throw got away, allowing Felipe to score on the play.
 
WPU got a two-run single in the top of the fourth to retake its lead at 4-2, but Reeder sliced into it with his second home run of the season. He took the second pitch of his at-bat in the bottom of the fifth deep into the trees in left field to make it 4-3.
 
WPU got a run in the seventh to make it 5-3 after a leadoff double and a successful squeeze play, and it stayed there after TCNJ stranded a runner at third in the home half of the inning.
 
In the eighth, WPU scored five more times on the strength of five hits to make it 10-3, effectively removing any doubt of the outcome. The Pioneers added another in the ninth.
 
Andrew Fernandez, the newly named NJAC Rookie of the Week, had the other TCNJ hit.
 
The Lions return home on Tuesday to host Alvernia in a non-conference game starting at 3:30 p.m.