EWING, N.J.- The TCNJ baseball team claimed their spot in the 2023 NJAC tournament after a split with Ramapo College on Tuesday. They lost the first game 8-6 and won the second 5-1, which became a must win after the game one loss.
 
GAME 1- Ramapo 8, TCNJ 6
 
Starter Jackson Malouf put up solid work on the mound today, going six innings for the Lions and allowing three runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Outside of the three-run third inning, Malouf kept TCNJ in the game.
 
It took both teams a few innings to get on the scoreboard as the Roadrunners did first with three runs in the top of the third on four hits. Ramapo jumped on Malouf early in counts and it paid off for them as they gained the early lead.
 
The Lions found the equalizer in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three runs on two hits. A Justin Marcario bases-clearing triple with two outs erased the Ramapo deficit in just one swing. Jack Felipe led the inning off with a single which Sebastian JnoBaptiste followed with a walk. After a sacrifice bunt from Zach Weiner, Jack Haynes walked to set up Marcario.
 
In the top of the seventh, the Roadrunners regained the lead with a two-run homer to left, bringing them ahead by a score of 5-3 with just nine outs left for the Lions at the plate.
 
TCNJ found the answer in the seventh once again, scoring two runs to knot the game at five runs apiece. Goodall surpassed 100 hits with a double to left field. This set up Andrew Fernandez to tie the game with a two-run bomb soaring into the trees in left field.
 
In back-and-forth fashion, Ramapo came back with another haymaker, scoring three runs in the top of the eight on four hits and one error to bring their lead to 8-5.
 
In the bottom half, the Lions got one back on a failed pickoff attempt, scoring Haynes who was on third base after leading the inning off with a double and advancing to third on a LaGravenis grounder.
 
In the ninth, the Lions could not find an answer on offense as the Roadrunners took the first game of this two-game set.
 
 
GAME 2- TCNJ 5, Ramapo 1:
 
In game two, Jack Marchese built off his solid performance at Arcadia last week and threw an absolute gem in a must win game. The sophomore right-hander went eight and two thirds innings, allowing just one run on seven hits and three walks. While Marchese did not strike any Roadrunners out, he managed to keep his pitch count down with a good deal of first-pitch outs.
 
Similar to game one, the Roadrunners were the first one the board with one run on two hits in the top of the first to take an early lead once again. They didn't score again for the remainder of the contest.
 
TCNJ took no time to take the lead back, scoring two runs on two hits in the bottom half of the first to jump ahead 2-1. A Goodall sac-fly to deep right field scored LaGravenis to get things going for TCNJ. A hit by pitch loaded the bases for JnoBaptiste to pick up an RBI walk, scoring Marcario.
 
To lead off the fifth, Goodall drove in his second run of the game with his seventh homerun of the year, this time into the trees in left field to give the Lions a two-run advantage going into the sixth.
 
TCNJ picked up a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on two hits to bring the lead to 5-1. Jack Haynes started the inning off by taking one off the wrist and taking first base for free. LaGravenis followed this up with a single to the right side. Marcario capitalized on the opportunity with a double to the fence in left center field, scoring both Haynes and LaGravenis.
 
After allowing a couple of baserunners in the ninth, Marchese handed over pitching duties to Joe Ferreri for the final out. Since the bases were loaded, Ferreri earned the save for recording the last out.
 
It appears that the Lions will head to Union on Thursday to take on NJAC No. 2 seed Kean with the first pitch for the first round of the NJAC tournament scheduled for 3:30 PM.