EWING, N.J.- The TCNJ baseball team picked up their first sweep of the year on Sunday with two wins over Montclair State. The Lions won the first game 3-2 and the second 7-6.
 
GAME 1- TCNJ 3, MSU 2:

In game one, Ben Amon put together another great outing pitching 8.2 innings while giving up two runs and nine hits, striking out five and walking two.

The Red Hawks scored first in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly to center field to take an early 1-0 lead.

The three runs scored by the Lions all came in the second inning. Andrew Fernandez started the bottom of the second off for TCNJ with a leadoff double to right center field. The very next batter, Zach Hochheiser poked a single over the shortstop's head to score Fernandez and tie the game at one. With runners on first and second, Jack Haynes had an RBI single of his own, this time to left center scoring Sebastian JnoBaptiste to take the lead. A Justin Marcario sac-fly to center scored Zach Weiner to extend their lead to 3-1.

The Red Hawks pulled a little closer in the fourth, scoring one run on two hits to bring the Lion lead to just one run.

Throughout the rest of the game, the TCNJ defense was on full display, making great plays in the field for Amon. Chris Reeder highlighted this by throwing out two Red Hawk baserunners trying to steal second.

With two outs in the ninth, Amon handed pitching duties over to Alec Schwartz who recorded the final out on the first batter he faced to seal the 3-2 win.

Leading the Lions at the plate in game one was Haynes, Marcario and Hochheiser. Haynes led the way with two hits and an RBI while Marcario and Hochheiser each had a hit and an RBI.
 
GAME 2- TCNJ 7, MSU 6

The Lions secured a sweep in game two coming off a walk-off sacrifice fly by Andrew Fernandez, scoring Chris Reeder after his game tying RBI triple.

The Lions got another great start on Sunday out of sophomore southpaw Jackson Malouf. He threw 6.2 innings and gave up only one run on six hits, five strikeouts and four walks. While the Red Hawks had chances to score, they couldn't squeak one by on Malouf.

The Lions struck first in the bottom of the first on an RBI single coming from Ryan Goodall which scored Jack Haynes. Haynes led the inning off with a single to left and got into scoring position on a Marcario bunt.

In the top half of the fourth, the Red Hawks found the answer scoring one run on two hits to deadlock the game at one apiece.

With two outs in the seventh, Joe Ferreri came into pitch for Malouf with runners on first and second. The junior from Toms River got the Lions out of the jam with a fly ball to right field.

Reeder was sensational behind the dish in game two once again, throwing out another two Red Hawk baserunners trying to steal second.

In the home half of the eighth, the Lions were the beneficiary of errant Montclair pitching, scoring four runs on 0 hits and one error in the field. With the bases loaded, two Lions were walked consecutively followed by a hit by pitch. The next batter reached first on an error and scored another to bring them ahead 5-1.

Montclair miraculously found the answer in the top of the ninth, scoring five runs of their own on three hits to go ahead 6-5.

Goodall led off the ninth with a screaming double to left field while behind in the count 1-2. Reeder followed this with another screamer into left and going all the way to the wall as Goodall scored and Reeder slid safely into third with a triple.

Andrew Fernandez came up the very next batter and walked it off for TCNJ.

Leading the Lions at the plate in game two was Goodall, Reeder and Haynes. Haynes and Goodall each had two hits and an RBI while Reeder had a trio of hits in game two with an RBI of his own.

TCNJ Baseball is back in action this Thursday, April 20^th as they prepare to play Stockton at Trenton Thunder Ballpark with first pitch scheduled for 6 PM.