WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The TCNJ baseball team could not be contained in their matchup against Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Sunday afternoon, erupting for a season-high 20 runs on 21 hits – by 13 different players – in the Lions' most dominant win of the year.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After a quiet opening inning, TCNJ (5-4) blew open the game with a six-run second frame to take control.
Ryan Goodall drew a one-out walk and quickly crossed home plate after
Tyler Provost cranked his first collegiate home run to left center to start the rally.
After the Scarlet Hawks (3-6) recorded their second out on an
Andrew Fernandez flyball, three straight Lions reached base safely, setting up
Gianni Marano to hit a bases-clearing double to balloon the lead to five. The graduate transfer scored himself on the ensuing at bat, when a single to right off the bat of
Zach Hochheiser brought home the sixth run of the inning.
TCNJ added a pair of runs in the third on RBIs from
Jake Carter and
Jack O'Donnell before scoring 10 runs on 10 hits in a fourth inning that all but put the game out of reach.
Seven consecutive singles to start the inning quickly turned a 8-0 lead into a 13-0 advantage before IIT was able to record its first out of the inning. Hochheiser and
Andrew Woodward kept the rally going with a pair of RBIs, with Goodall striking again with a two-RBI double one at-bat later. TCNJ would score its 10th and final run of the inning on its 10th hit – an RBI single from Fernandez – to take a commanding 18-0 lead into the fifth inning.
Ben Amon, who had allowed just one hit through his first four innings of work, finally ceded a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to miss out on the shutout, but RBIs from Woodward and
Chris Salmon – the first of his career – in the bottom half of the frame built the advantage right back to 18 at 20-2.
Jordan Gray and
Connor Lamanteer came out of the bullpen for the Lions and tossed a pair of shutout innings in the sixth and seventh, clinching the run-rule win for TCNJ.
STANDOUT LIONS
- Hochheiser (3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI) and Carter (3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI) led the Lions with three hits apiece, combing to go 6-8 with four runs and four RBIs
- Goodall and Provost mirrored each other's stat lines, combining for a perfect 4-4 outing with six runs and six RBIs.
- Marano shared the team-lead in RBIs with three.
- Mike LaGravenis (2-for-3, 2 runs) and Fernandez (2-for-4, run, RBI) also finished with multi-hit days.
- O'Donnell scored three runs and drove in two more
- Amon earned his first win of the season, allowing two runs on three hits in five innings.
UP NEXT
- The Lions return Monday, March 17 to take on third-ranked Johns Hopkins. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
