AUBURNDALE, FL.- The TCNJ baseball team split with Muhlenberg in a seven-inning doubleheader on Friday, losing the first 7-6 in extra innings and winning the second convincingly 8-2. 
 
GAME 1- Muhlenberg 7, TCNJ 6 (9 Innings):
 
Game one featured a back-and-forth atmosphere that the Lions are no stranger to at this point in the season. TCNJ were often the aggressor but could not find the shutdown inning to put the Mules away.
 
The Lions got on the scoreboard first in the top half of the second with a fielder's choice coming off the bat of Michael Doran which scored Chris Reeder to gain the early lead.
 
Jordan Gray started the day off on the mound strong, going through the first four innings scoreless with four strikeouts in that time.
 
TCNJ put up another run in the fifth when an errant throw from the third baseman allowed Jack Haynes to round third and score, giving the Lions a two-run advantage.
 
The Mules proceeded to knot the game at five in the bottom of the fifth with a one out, two run homerun over the left field fence.
 
TCNJ found the quick answer in the top of the sixth, taking those two runs right back from Muhlenberg. With two outs and a runner on first and third, Jack Haynes smoked a two run RBI double to right center field, scoring Michael Schumacher and Jack Felipe.
 
Right back in the bottom of the inning, the Mules once again tied the game back up with a two run RBI double down the left field line.
 
Ryan Goodall came up huge for TCNJ in the seventh, hitting a solo bomb to left field to give them a one run lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.
 
An RBI single to left by Muhlenberg in the following half would force extra innings. After all the back-and-forth throughout the last couple of innings, both teams enjoyed a scoreless eighth inning.
 
In the top of the ninth, Chris Reeder put the Lions ahead once again with an RBI single into left field, scoring Mike LaGravenis who singled to start the inning.
 
Muhlenberg took advantage of some errors in the field to get in the situation of bases loaded and no outs. A double to right center field would score two runs and end game one in favor of the Mules.
 
Jack Haynes and Ryan Goodall led the Lions at the plate in game one with three hits, four RBI's and two runs scored between the duo.
 
GAME 2- TCNJ 8, Muhlenberg 2:
 
John DiCostanzo got his first start on Friday and showed out with six strong innings on the bump for the Lions. In those six innings, he gave up two runs with one earned, seven hits, six strikeouts and three walks.  The freshman did a great job throughout the contest of minimizing damage and denying the Mules of multiple scoring chances.
 
The Mules scored first in game two with an RBI double in the top of the first. This time around, TCNJ took the lead in the third inning and never looked back.
 
In the second, the Lions plated three runs which began with an Andrew Fernandez RBI single, scoring Justin Marcario. A throwing error following a Mike LaGravenis single later in the inning would allow Haynes and Fernandez to reach home.
 
Muhlenberg tacked on one more in the third and would be shutout for the remaining four innings.
 
TCNJ over those next four innings put up five more runs with five separate Lions recording an RBI. In game two, Fernandez, LaGravenis (2), Felipe, Marcario, Weiner and Goodall all had an RBI.
 
Four Lions recorded a multi-hit game in LaGravenis (2-4), Fernandez (2-3), Felipe (2-3) and Marcario (2-4) were responsible for eight out of the 12 hits in the game.
 
DiCostanzo would hand the ball over to Drew Lukomski-LaPolice for the seventh and final inning and had two strike outs with one hit and allowed no runs.
 
TCNJ baseball wraps up their spring trip Saturday morning with a matchup against FDU-Florham with first pitch at 9:30 AM.