New Jersey City University Athletics

Box Score

(Wood-Ridge, NJ/Queen of Peace) retired the lone batter he faced in relief. Freshman righty JOE STONE (Metuchen, NJ/JFK-Iselin) allowed one unearned run and three hits in 2.0 innings of relief, striking out one. Freshman Zack Buchholz (Colonia, NJ/JFK-Iselin) threw one scoreless inning of relief in the ninth, allowing a hit and walk. Rowan sophomore righty Corey Feigenbaum (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) allowed one run and two hits in the bottom of the ninth with one strikeout.
 
Coutinho struck out four batters through the first two innings (three swinging) and twice stranded a man at third after a failed pickoff at first resulted in an error and a two-base advance. NJCU had two men in scoring position in the bottom of the second after a sacrifice but with one out, couldn't bring in a run.
 
In the third, a leadoff double, a walk and a sacrifice put two runners in scoring position before Coutinho struck out the next two batters, including the third out looking with a fastball on the inside corner.
 
Rowan finally got in the board in the sixth. A leadoff single by Benak, a walk and a sacrifice moved two runners into scoring position and junior designated hitter Casey Grimes (Gibbstown, NJ/Paulsboro) knocked in the first run with a groundout to second scoring Benak. With two outs Perez walked and stole second and Powelson uncorked on the three-run homer for a 4-0 lead. Rowan drew three walks in the sixth. With two runners in scoring position freshman second baseman NICK RUSCINGNO (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) made an inning-ending running catch in shallow right center.In the seventh, Benak led off with a triple to the deep right center gap, which nearly resulted in an inside-the-park homer had  junior center fielder MICHAEL MARTUCCI (Bayonne, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) not made a great flip of the ball back to a teammate before his momentum carried him over the fence. But Benak was retired on a fielder's choice on a throw to the plate by Ruscingno. After a wild pitch on a strikeout swinging and another wild pitch put two runners in scoring position, freshman third baseman/shortstop TAYLOR BORN (South Plainfield, NJ/South Plainfield) made a great leaping catch to pull down a line drive that would have plated two runs.
 
Rowan added an unearned run in the eighth. After a leadoff single, a passed ball, and sacrifice put a runner on third and Pavlik singled through the drawn-in infield.
 
NJCU broke up the shutout in the ninth when Niech led off with a double, freshman left fielder ERIC GIORDANO (Metuchen, NJ/JFK-Iselin) singled and junior MATTHEW WAGNER (Colonia, NJ/Colonia) had a pinch hit RBI groundout.
 
NJCU is back on the field tomorrow, April 19 at 11:30 a.m. when it hosts William Paterson University in an NJAC doubleheader.