Baseball Eliminated by TCNJ At NCAA Mideast Regional Tournament

Written by Joshua Soto (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Washington, Pa.| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) baseball team saw its strong run at the NCAA Mideast Regional come to and end following a 15-5 loss to The College of New Jersey on Friday Morning at Ross Memorial Field in Washington, Pa. The Golden Eagles conclude their 2016 season with a 25-13 record while TCNJ (32-12) moves on to play an elimination game on Friday night.

TCNJ's Pat Roberts opened up the scoring with a ground-rule double over the right field fence in the first inning, and Zach Shindler took four pitches to walk in a second run. In the top of the second, the Lions would tack on an additional run, again via a walk.

TCNJ's offense explodedd in the top of the fifth inning scoring 11 runs on four hits. The rally started when Garen Turner homered to left field with one out, making way for TCNJ to score four consecutive runs after two walks, a hit batsman, and a wild pitch to take an 8-0 lead.

Roberts then singled with the bases loaded and Turner walked to put the Lions up double digits (10). Shindler tripled to right center to make it a 13 run lead before Mike Follet singled to right field to score Shindler for the 11th run of the inning (14-0).

The Golden Eagles' offensice brokethrough in the bottom of the seventh when Sean Balsam doubled to left center to drive Joseph Lynn in. Ryan Walsh put runners on the corner when he capitalized on a misplayed ball by the shortstop, and James Nakashian bunted a singled to third base to score Balsam and Walsh to cut the deficit to 11 runs (14-3).

Later in the inning, Brendan Sullivan drove in another run with a ground out to the short before Nick Girardi belted his second home run of the season to make it a 14-5 game.

Alex Christian double to right center in the top of the eighth wrap the game's scoring and clinched the 15-5 win for the Lions.

"This is my 30th year coaching, and I've never been around a group of guys who care for each other like they do," said head coach Richard Garrett after the loss. "Leadership is the definition of this team and was blessed to coach them."

Sullivan went two-for-five on the day driving in a run in the seventh inning. The first baseman was the only SJC player to record multiple hits in the game.

Steve Szobesky took the loss, allowing three runs, one hit and five walks. Nick Clemente, Josh Outsen, Michael Catanzaro, Adam Brisman, Matt Leach, Matt Hess and Luke Brown all provided relief efforts. 

For the full postgame press conference, featuring interviews with Garrett, Sullivan and Girardi, redirect here.

Mideast Regional All-Tournament Team

Most Outstanding Player - Ben Herstine, 1B, La Roche
Ben Herstine, 1B, La Roche College
David Lemley, 3B, La Roche College
Ethan Lewis, P, La Roche College
Nick Tunstall, P, La Roche College
Travis Lodge, 1B, Randolph-Macon College
Nick Maiolo, DH, Randolph-Macon College
Rick Spiers, P/OF, Randolph-Macon College
James Walsh, P, Randolph-Macon College
Ryan Aloise, P, St. Joseph's College (L.I.)
Jamie Lackner, 1B, The College of Wooster
​​​​​​​John Rizzi, OF, The College of New Jersey​