Media Release April 1, 2008
Ewing, NJ – Ranked sixth in Division III, The College of New Jersey\’s baseball team tallied a 7-5 home win over the Lions of Albright College to collect the team\’s eighth straight victory. TCNJ improves to 16-2 overall, while Albright drops to 7-11. The eight wins in a row matches TCNJ longest winning streak of the season as the Lions started 2008 by reeling off eight wins.
TCNJ\’s senior Rich Gawlak (Plainsboro, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro-South) drove in the Lions\’ first two runs of the game with a two run double to deep right field and helped the team get off to a 2-0 lead. Senior right fielder Matt Barrett (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) went deep with his first career homerun, a solo shot to left center in the bottom of the third. TCNJ would tack on another run in the inning and lead 6-0 before Albright broke up freshman pitcher Connor Henderson\’s (Monmouth Junction, NJ/South Brunswick) shutout bid.
Henderson worked six inning and scattered five hits, yielding a run with three walks and four strikeouts as he made his first career start for the Lions and is now 1-0. Freshman reliever Sean Flanagan (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan) made his first appearance on the year before senior Nick Amabile (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel) entered the game in the seventh inning and struck out the side to help the Lions out of the jam after Albright tacked on three runs and sent TCNJ to the bottom of the seventh with a 7-4 lead. Albright sent the entire lineup to the plate in the inning before Amabile was able to end the threat.
In the top of the ninth, senior Kyle Wenrich (Reading, PA/Reading) came to bat with bases loaded and two outs and was struck out by TCNJ\’s junior Eric Gertie (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson) to end the game and preserve the victory by the home squad. Gertie collected the save, his fourth of the year for the Lions.
Sophomore Derek Althouse (Manheim, PA/Manheim Central) took the loss after working four innings with four earned runs off seven hits with four walks and two strikeouts and is now 0-2. Sophomore Shane Stein (New Ringgold, PA/Blue Mountain) worked two innings for Albright, yielding one earned run off five hits with a walk and a strikeout.
Albright\’s senior Jordan Boyer (Hamburg, PA/Hamburg) drove in two runs and was 2-5 with a pair of runs, while Wenrich was 2-5 with a pair of runs scored.
On the game, Gawlak and freshman Matt Giermanski (Oradell, NJ/River Dell Regional) both drove in two runs, while rookie outfielder Anthony Palmiotto (Manchester, NJ/Manchester Township) added a 2-4 day at the plate with an RBI and junior shortstop Jeff Toth (Parlin, NJ/Sayreville) went 2-3 with three stolen bases in the game.
TCNJ returns to action on April 3 hosting Moravian College in a 3:30 p.m. non-league match-up, while Albright College is back in action on April 4 when they visit Widener University for a 3:30 p.m. contest.