EWING, NJ. – The TCNJ baseball team defeated Stockton for the second consecutive day, this time with an 11-9 home victory at George Ackerman Park. The Lions used a six-run third inning to break the game wide open, but Stockton fought back from an eight-run deficit to make things interesting in the later innings.
The Lions' big third inning came as the team led, 2-1, thanks to back-to-back two-out hits from
Ryan Goodall and
Chris Reeder in the bottom of the first. Goodall doubled home
Jack Haynes, and Reeder followed with a single to plate Goodall.
In the third, TCNJ sent 12 batters to the plate while scoring six times. TCNJ used the benefit of six walks in the inning to supplement three hits.
Chris Cote had one of those massive hits with the bases loaded, smacking a bases-clearing double to right center to push the TCNJ lead to 5-1.
Three batters later,
Michael Schumacher singled home Cote to make it 6-1.
Joey Cruciata,
Mike Lagravenis and Haynes all followed with walks, forcing home two more runs to make it 8-1. Lagravenis reached base twice in the inning after leading off the frame with a double to left field that short-hopped the wall.
Stockton scored twice in the top of the fourth to make it 8-3, but the Lions followed that with three more in the home half of the inning.
Andrew Fernandez singled to load the bases with one out, and Schumacher followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 9-3. Cruciata capped the inning with a two-run triple to plate both Fernandez and
Joe Oczkowski to make it 11-3.
Starting pitcher
Jackson Malouf made it through five innings to earn his second win of the season. He allowed three runs while striking out four hitters.
Stockton made things very interesting in the game's later stages just as it did during Thursday's game. And, just like Thursday,
Alec Schwartz closed the door on the Ospreys' improbable comeback attempt.
Stockton scored twice in the sixth and four more in the eighth to make it 11-9, prompting Schwartz's entrance with one out in the eighth. He gave up a leadoff single on a ball that snuck through the right side, but he followed that by retiring the next five men he faced.
In a 1-2-3 ninth inning, Schwartz zipped through the top of the Stockton order, getting strikeouts on the first two hitters before inducing a groundout to third to end it.
Haynes and Goodall each reached base four times through a combination of hits, walks and a hit-batsman for each.
TCNJ returns to action on Saturday against No. 14 Kean for a home doubleheader at 11:30 a.m. TCNJ will celebrate its senior class prior to the first game, with the ceremony scheduled to begin around 11:10 a.m.
