EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ baseball team went nearly 20 years without scoring as many runs as it did on Thursday afternoon at George Ackerman Park. The Lions defeated Rutgers-Camden, 28-6, in an NJAC game that helped solidify the Lions' grasp of a playoff spot in the NJAC Tournament next week.
The 28 runs are the most for a TCNJ baseball team in a game since earning a 30-3 victory over King's (Pa.) on March 8, 2004.
TCNJ has reached the 20-run plateau several times in the preceding 18 years. The last time came when TCNJ scored exactly 20 on April 13, 2018 at Stockton. The highest total since that 30-run output before Thursday came when the Lions scored 26 in a win over Haverford on March 25, 2006.
The game itself had a little bit of everything. All nine TCNJ starters had at least one hit, one run scored and one RBI. Two of the players who came off the bench later in the game also hit that mark.
Andrew Fernandez,
Justin Marcario and
Sebastian JnoBaptiste all homered while
Mike Lagravenis,
Jack Haynes and
Michael Schumacher all tripled. TCNJ also hit five doubles, highlighted by Fernandez's two.
Fernandez hit a three-run homer to cap a seven-run TCNJ second inning, giving the Lions at 8-0 lead. Fernandez was 3-for-7 with four RBIs and three runs scored.
Rutgers-Camden made things interesting in the top of the fifth, scoring five times to cut the TCNJ advantage to 9-6. That interest and intrigue didn't last very long. TCNJ scored nine more times in the bottom half of the fifth, turning a high-scoring close game into a rout.
In the bottom of that fifth inning, the nine TCNJ runs came on the benefit of just three hits. TCNJ drew five walks and was hit by two pitches. Camden also committed two errors. The big blow of the inning was a bases-clearing three-run double by
Joe Oczkowski to make it 14-6. Fernandez followed with one of his two doubles to drive Oczkowski to make it 15-6.
Five more runs crossed in the sixth. Haynes delivered a bases-clearing triple to score Lagravenis,
Joey Cruciata and Schumacher. That made it 22-6.
Marcario and JnoBaptiste each homered in the eighth inning. Marcario led off the inning with his, and JnoBaptiste followed later in the inning with a three-run shot to left center.
The TCNJ offense has now scored 43 runs in its last two games after defeating No. 8 Arcadia, 15-1, on Tuesday night.
The Lions make the return trip to Rutgers-Camden on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
