MARIETTA, Ohio — The New Jersey City University baseball team took on #20 Marietta College on Thursday night, March 16, in the first of four games for the Gothic Knights at Pioneer Park this weekend for the Marietta/BSN Invitational. The Green and Gold played well against arguably their toughest opponent to this point in the season, but fell to Marietta by a final of 5-3.

Jersey City (4-4) was off to a quick start with a couple of outs in the bottom of the first, however the Pioneers (9-4) fired off back-to-back solo jacks to quickly make it 2-0 after one inning of play. NJCU had a chance to cut into the deficit in the top of the second with two outs and runners on second and third, but unfortunately went down swinging to end the inning.

Marietta then went up 4-0 in the bottom of the third via a one-out, two-run double. However, the Gothic Knights manage to limit the damage to just that with a couple of nice plays to end the inning, including throwing the runner out from third on his way to the plate for the second out.

In the top of the fourth after a couple of two-out walks, juniors Justin Moreno (Brooklyn, N.Y./Trenton Catholic) and Garrett Allo (Monroe, N.J./East Brunswick Tech) were in scoring position and Hernandez came to bat with the bases loaded. Down 0-2 in the count, he pulled one to right for a two-run single to make it 4-2. Marietta answered with another run in the bottom of the fourth on a single down the line in left to make it 5-2, closing out the scoring on the day for the home team.

Neither squad was able to muster any offense over the next four innings and the score remained the same heading into the top of the ninth. With two outs and freshman Arian Lunar (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) on second, Hernandez smacked a double off the wall in left-center to make it 5-3. However, the Pioneers would close it out in the following at-bat.

Highlights:
- Hernandez finished 2-for-4 with three RBI, a double and a walk. He also entered the bottom of the seventh on the mound, getting a couple of outs over the final two at-bats.
- Graduate student Ricky Voss (Eatontown, N.J./Monmouth Regional) ended 1-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch.
- Moreno was 1-for-3 with a run and a walk.
- Senior Frank Shipman (Edison, N.J./Edison) entered for 1.0 scoreless inning in relief in the second. He struck out one and did not allow a hit.
- Senior Paul Tannucilli (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) tossed a scoreless eighth out of the pen. He did not allow a hit and struck out one, as well.

Up Next:
Jersey City returns to action tomorrow, Friday, March 17, with a slightly later than scheduled 1:00 p.m. start against Johnson & Wales University due to some rain in the forecast.