OLIVER FANS 16 AS NO. 6 RANKED LIONS DOWN HAVERFORD 9-1 IN HOME OPENER
By Ann King
Ewing, NJ – Ranked sixth in Division III, The College of 
New Jersey's baseball team picked up a home win over Haverford College on Friday in George Ackerman Park. TCNJ's senior pitcher Mike Oliver (Crosswicks, NJ/Hamilton West) fanned a career-high 16 batters en route to his second win on the season. TCNJ improved to 10-2 on the year, while the Fords watched their six-game win streak come to an end and now stand at 9-4-1.
The Lions' right handed senior pitcher, Oliver surpassed his previous career best of 10 strikeouts from a year ago and now has 130 career strikeouts at TCNJ while boasting a 15-2 mark on the mound at TCNJ.
Friday's contest marked the home debut for the Lions' interim coach, Dean Glus as well as the Lions' new home uniforms.
TCNJ jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single by junior third baseman Vince Mazzaccaro (Gloucester City, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) before junior shortstop Jeff Toth (Parlin, NJ/Sayreville) added three run homerun in the bottom of the second to cap a five-run inning and give the Lions a 6-0 lead after two innings of play. Junior second baseman Adam Tussey (Brooklawn, NJ/Gloucester City High School) added an RBI single in the third for the Lions to help the Lions build a 7-0 lead.
Tussey with no outs in the bottom of the sixth and bases loaded singled in a run off relief pitcher, sophomore Adam Lewis (Nicasio, CA/Marin Academy) before Toth had an RBI sacrifice fly to left field before Lewis got out of the jam with a double play. Lewis worked two innings for Haverford with a pair of earned runs off one hit with three walks and a strikeout.
Oliver had a no hitter until the top of the fourth and managed to get out off a jam after loading the bases with no outs and proceeded to strikeout the last three batters he faced in the inning to keep the Fords off the scoreboard. For the game, Oliver worked seven innings of four hit ball with one earned run, 16 strikeouts and just three walks.
Senior catcher Will Stafford (Evanston, IL/Evanston Township) broke up Oliver's shutout bid with a sole homerun to left center in the top of the seventh inning for his team-leading third home run of the year.
Sophomore Stefan Pappius-Lefebrve (Brookline, MA/Brookline) lasted four innings and gave up seven earned runs of eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts in falling to 1-1.
Oliver shared in the win as senior Bob Buskett (Trenton, NJ/Notre Dame) worked in relief and worked two innings of work with one hit and two strikeouts.
Toth would finish with four RBIs on the day and was 2-3 at the plate while Tussey was 4-5 with two RBI's.
TCNJ returns to action on March 26 for a 3:30 p.m. road contest at Gwynedd-Mercy College, while Haverford will face Muhlenberg College on March 25 on the road at 3:30 p.m.
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