Galloway, NJ – Stockton University (6-16, 3-7 NJAC) split a home NJAC doubleheader against New Jersey City (15-10, 5-5), taking the opener 7-0 but dropping the nightcap 7-2.
Ray Hughes (Forked River/Lacey Twp.) blanked the Gothic Knights in game one for his first career shutout.
Tyler Hobbs (Brick/Brick Memorial) had two hits in each game.
Hughes improved to 3-2 on the season by tossing a four-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts. Hughes was able to keep NJCU off the board by stranding 12 runners on base, including two apiece in four different innings.
Rico Viani (Monroe Twp./Monroe Twp.) extended his hitting streak to nine games, going 3-3 with a run and an RBI.
Viani and
Garrhet Reedy (Tinton Falls/Monmouth) each scored on errors in the fourth inning to give Stockton a 2-0 lead. In the next stanza, Viani stroked an RBI single and Reedy collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly to boost the advantage to 4-0.
Hobbs scored on an error in the seventh inning and Reedy added his second sacrifice fly RBI to make it 6-0. The final run of the 7-0 win came in the eighth frame as
Jeff Schick (Marlton/Cherokee) doubled and scored on an RBI single by Hobbs.
Joe Cashman (Bordentown/Bordentown) went 3-4 with a double and a run in the second game. Hobbs, Schick and
JJ Swentkowski (Egg Harbor Twp./EHT) added two hits apiece. The Ospreys led 2-0 before surrendering seven consecutive runs.
Stockton's first two tallies came in similar fashion. The Ospreys loaded the bases in the second inning and
Brandan Gomez (Jersey City/Ferris) earned an RBI with a groundout that scored Cashman. They filled the sacks again in the fourth frame, and this time an RBI groundout by Schick plated
John Perrino (Wall/Wall) to make it 2-0.
New Jersey City tied the game with two runs on five hits in the fifth inning and went ahead 4-2 with two more on two hits and three walks in the sixth. The Gothic Knights tacked on three more counters in the top of the ninth for the 7-2 final.
Viani started on the mound and surrendered four runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched but absorbed the defeat. Stockton raked 11 hits but left 10 men on base.
Stockton will conclude a four-game homestand on April 19 when the Ospreys host Rutgers-Camden in an NJAC tilt at 3:30 pm.
