CAMDEN, N.J.- The TCNJ baseball team won their fifth consecutive game on Friday afternoon in the Second Round of the NJAC tournament with a 6-4 victory against fourth-seeded Rutgers-Camden. The Lions (23-15) took the lead over the Scarlet Raptors (26-15) in the fifth inning and never looked back as TCNJ held on for the win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Following a scoreless first inning, the Scarlet Raptors got on the board first in the bottom of the second on a single up the middle, taking a 1-0 lead.
• TCNJ evened the score in the top of the fourth on two hits and an error to knot it at one.
  • After back-to-back singles and a strikeout, an errant throw on a line drive to short allowed Chris Reeder to score and tie the game for TCNJ.
• After a scoreless fourth from SP Ben Amon, the Lions began to separate from the Scarlet Raptors with four runs on five hits to take a 5-1 lead.
  • With two on and no outs, Mike LaGravenis shot a single to left, driving in Jack Haynes.
  • Two batters later, Justin Marcario hit a sac-fly to right field, scoring Andrew Woodward.
  • Consecutive singles from Ryan Goodall and Jack O'Donnell in the ensuing at-bats brought in LaGravenis and Andrew Fernandez to push their lead to four.
• Rutgers-Camden cut the lead to a run in the home half of the seventh on four hits to bring the score to 5-4.
• The Lions picked up some insurance for Amon in the top of the eighth, scoring a run on a throwing error in the field that allowed Goodall to score and put TCNJ up 6-4.
• Amon concluded his day after a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth and handed over pitching duties to Joe Ferreri. In his eight innings, Amon gave up four runs on 10 hits with no walks and four strikeouts. The numbers don't quite show how impressive Amon was, as he retired the side four separate times over the course of the game.
• Ferreri went straight to work, sitting down Rutgers-Camden in order to earn his third save of the season and push the Lions forward to the winner's bracket.

 
STANDOUT LIONS:

• 2B Mike LaGravenis: 2-for-5, 1RBI, 1R
• 1B Ryan Goodall: 2-for-4, 1RBI, 1R
• SP Ben Amon (5-1): 8.0 IP, 4ER, 10H, 0BB, 4K
• RP Joe Ferreri: SV, 1.0 IP, 0R, 0H, 1K, 0BB

 
UP NEXT:

• TCNJ baseball will take on the winner of the Friday night matchup between Ramapo and Rowan on Saturday starting at 3:30 PM. A win in Saturday's game will send the Lions to Sunday's NJAC Championship.