CHESTER, Pa. (Mar. 29, 2017) – Two breakout innings fueled the Widener baseball team to victory over The College of New Jersey, 19-4, in a non-conference game on Wednesday afternoon in Chester, Pa.
 
Widener captured the lead in the first inning with a run from senior Bob Barnett (Glenolden, Pa.)  who scored off of a sacrifice fly up right center from senior Nick Enos (Williamstown, N.J.). The Lions attempted  to claw back in the following inning scoring two runs, however, the Pride came back with vengeance by scoring 11 runs in the third frame.

Senior Justin Healy (Ocean City, N.J.) sparked the offense, as he singled in both seniors Greg McDonough (Ambler, Pa.) and Barnett to put the Pride up 2-3 and ahead for good. Junior Kyle Lowery (Norristown, Pa.) blasted a single to left field to drive in two more runs and senior Mike Elfreth (Washington Township, N.J.) hit a two-RBI double down the right line to make it 11-2 and cap the offensive explosion.

TCNJ, which is ranked 16th nationally by D3baseball.com and 17th by the ABCA, scored two runs in the following inning, however, it was not enough to put out the Pride's fire as they answered with a 6-0 streak in the sixth frame to pad their lead by 15 runs. Barnett opened the scoring in the sixth by advancing off of a throwing error made by the Lion's catcher, and junior Mike Garofolo (Pitman, N.J) drove in two runs with a double up left center to end the scoring. After three more scoreless innings, the Pride pulled away with the lopsided 19-4 victory.

Junior Matthew Guarino (Jackson, N.J.) picked up the win on the mound for the Pride. He pitched three innings, surrendered one hit, no runs, struck out one, and issued two walks. Max Guidice suffered the loss for TCNJ. He hurled two innings, surrendered four hits, five runs, struck out none and issued two walks.

The Pride will return to action when they take on Messiah in Grantham, Pa. on Friday, March 31 at 3:30 p.m.