EWING, N.J. – A pair of big sleeves and a solid exit from Jordan Gray powered the TCNJ baseball team to an 11-2 victory over Albright in non-conference action on Tuesday.

Nine players had at least one hit and eight scored a run for the Lions (2-0), who picked up another lopsided win before heading south to Florida for spring break.
TCNJ scored four runs in the third and four more in the fifth to blow it up and provide plenty of support for Gray, who had a career-high six strikeouts in six solid innings.

Albright got on the board first, but Gray was able to get out of an early jam with minimal damage. After the Lions put men in the corners with no outs, he only surrendered a sacrificial fly and prompted a player on the ground to Zach Hochheiser at third with a runner at second to complete the frame with only one point allowed.
Gray settled in nicely from there, striking out two batters in the second during an eight-game right-handed drop streak.

Despite five walks in the first two innings, the Lions were unable to push a run, with two men obliterated on the base paths and men blocked at second and third to finish the second.

TCNJ made Albright starter Connor Trower pay in the third, capitalizing on a walk and a one-out shot to eventually take the lead. A wild throw propelled the runners to second and third place to Chris Cotewho scored a two-run brace just past the first baseman to put the home side ahead for good and chase Trower out of the game.

Chris Reder hosted Cameron Rodgers with a brace down the left field line to score Cote, and Joe Oczkowski followed it up with a third baseman’s head single to tackle Reeder for a 4-1 lead.

Chris Thomas broke Gray’s roll with a first homer in the fourth, shooting Albright to 4-2.

The Lions extended their lead in the fifth, when an early error paved the way for undeserved insurance. Oczkowski’s sacrificial fly preceded a two-out RBI single from Michael Schumacher which made it 6-2 and, after back-to-back hits from Hochheiser and Joey Cruciata loaded the bases, Mike Lagravenis bounced a blind single down the left side to give TCNJ the lead, 8-2.

TCNJ continued to add in the sixth, charging the bases with no outs before Oczkowski tackled Goodall with his second sacrificial fly of the day. A pinch double Sebastien JnoBaptiste set up a two-run single by Goodall in the seventh, extending the margin to 11-2.

Gray gave up just three hits and both earned runs, sniffing out a half-dozen while walking two. Joseph Felipe pitched two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts, and Jackson Malouf hit a scoreless one-on-ninth for his college debut.

Goodall went 2 for 3 with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Reeder was 2 for 3 with two runs and an RBI. Oczkowski went 1 for 1 and drove in three runs, Hochheiser had two hits, and Lagravenis drove in two RBIs from first place.

TCNJ begins its spring trip to Florida with a game against Nebraska Wesleyan at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.