Little Falls, NJ – Fourth-seeded The College of New Jersey kept their bats sizzling in the NJAC Tournament, however the Lions didn't need many on Thursday as it did in their tournament opener as sophomore righthander Connor Henderson (Monmouth Junction, NJ / South Brunswick) tossed a complete game leading TCNJ to an 11-2 victory over No. 2 seed Montclair State in the NJAC Baseball Tournament Championship at Yogi Berra Stadium.
Senior second baseman Adam Tussey (Brooklawn, NJ / Gloucester) was 3-for-6 with three RBI as the Lions (22-16-1) rapped out 19 hits and remain as the only unbeaten team in the tournament. New Jersey will face either Montclair State or top-seeded Kean University at 4:00 pm on Saturday, May 2 as the tournament shifts to Jim Hynes Field at Kean in Union.
Sophomore designated hitter
MIKE ERCOLANO (Vernon, NJ / Vernon Township) drove in both runs for Montclair State, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped with the loss. The Red Hawks (24-14) square off against the Kean for the third time this season at 8:00 am in an elimination contest on Saturday.
TCNJ, which has now scored 34 runs in its two tournament games, did not need quite as much offense this time around as Henderson improved to 6-1 on the season allowing six hits, striking out eight and walking three. Lefthander
JOHN MASKLEE (Totowa, NJ / Seton Hall Prep) took the loss for Montclair State as he fell to 4-4.
The Lions scored in eight of the nine innings in their 23-13 opening round win against William Paterson on Tuesday. New Jersey pushed that number to 13 of its first 14 innings as it scored two batters into the contest. Jimmy Ruzich (Verona, NJ / Montclair Kimberly) drew a one-out walk and scored as Jeff Toth (Parlin, NJ / Sayreville War Memorial) cracked a double to right center. TCNJ added three more the following inning. Anthony Palmiotto (Manchester, NJ / Manchester) brought home Mike Galetoafiore (Brick, NJ / Christian Brothers Academy) with an RBI double and Tussey added an RBi single for a 3-0 lead. Chris Esperon (Union, NJ / Union Catholic) added the final run with an run-scoring single as TCNJ built a four-run advantage.
The lead grew to 7-0 in the third as Tussey singled up the middle to score on run and Ruzich's base hit in the infield made the score 5-0. Tussey scored on a passed ball to cap the three-run inning. Galetoafiore and Ryan Anzelone (Vernon, NJ / Vernon) drove in a run in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively as TCNJ led 9-0.
That would be more than enough for Henderon, who logged his third complete game of the season. The righthander retired the first 10 hitters to open the game before giving up an infield single to
MICKEY MCGRAW (Morristown, NJ / Morristown) with one out in the fourth. He would retire seven of the next eight batters, Henderson ran into his only trouble in the seventh as Montclair scored its two runs.
SCOTT EVANGELIST (Northfield, NJ / Holy Spirit) singled through the middle with one out and
KEVIN BOND (Cedar Grove, NJ / Cedar Grove) followed with a base hit to left. After the second out,
JASON LOPEZ (West New York, NJ / Memorial) walked to load the bases, bringing up Ercolano, who line the first pitch he got into center driving in two.
Henderson would allow leadoff hitters on in each of the eighth and ninth innings, but each time got out of the frame with double-play grounders to complete his 117-pitch performance (80 for strikes).
Ruzich and Toth each had three hits apiece for TCNJ, which had 44 in its last two games. Esperon, Vin Mazzacaro (Gloucester, NJ / Gloucester Catholic), Anzelone and Palmiotto all had two hits on the day. Bond had two hits for Montclair State.
