COLLEGEVILLE, PA.- The TCNJ baseball team opened their season on the road at Ursinus College on Thursday, winning 3-1 behind some timely hitting and outstanding pitching.
 
Jackson Malouf was dominant in his first outing of 2023, going seven innings while striking out 10, allowing five hits with two walks. Whenever Ursinus appeared to have a chance, Malouf was there to quickly shut the door on the Bears.
 
TCNJ plated their first runs of the year in the top half of the third when Zach Weiner beat out an attempt at a double play which scored Zach Hochheiser.
 
Malouf worked his way out of a jam in the first with runners on first and second with nobody out. He proceeded to retire the next three batters to bring the Lions back to the dugout.
 
Ursinus knocked on the door again in the second inning when Peter Balos found himself on second base after an infield error. Chris Reeder picked up his teammates when Balos tried to steal third, delivering a strike to the bag well before the runner.
 
In the top half of the fifth, the Lions would tack on another run. Michael Schumacher led off the inning with a walk. Jack Haynes followed that up with a single through the left side. After Schumacher was picked off at second and Zach Weiner walked, Ryan Goodall hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Haynes.
 
In the home half of the fifth, Schumacher prevented the Bears from making any noise with a fantastic diving catch to close out the inning.
 
The Lions scored again in the eighth when Justin Marcario singled through the left side, deflecting off the extended glove of the third baseman. Reeder got on base with a single down the right field line with one out and advanced to second on a passed ball before scoring on the Reeder single.
 
Malouf handed it over to classmate Ethan Earley for the last two innings. He struck out three in the eighth and battled out of a jam in the ninth to secure the save. The Bears had the tying run at the plate with two outs in the final frame, but Earley forced a grounder to the shortstop to close out his first career save. 

Schumacher reached base in all four plate appearances, notching two singles and drawing a pair of walks. Marcario and Haynes joined him with multi-hit outings, each going 2-for-4 at the dish. 
 
TCNJ heads back on the road to take on the No. 1 team in the country, Salisbury, on Saturday with the first pitch set for 11:30 AM.