Glassboro, NJ –Stockton University (11-14) the number eight seed in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), split a doubleheader with Rowan University (20-4) on Friday afternoon. Stockton took the opener by a score of 8-6, before the Profs captured the nightcap 7-2. It was the quarterfinal opening doubleheader of the NJAC Tournament. The Profs are ninth in the national rankings by D3Baseball.com
 
The Ospreys jumped out early in the opening game, plating four runs in the first inning. John Perrino (Wall/Wall) knocked in a pair of runs, as did Ryan Swift (Sewell/Washington Twp.) for a 4-0 lead. Stockton tacked on another marker in the top of the second, then added another pair of runs in the top of the fourth frame.
 
Marco Meleo (Freehold/Freehold Boro) drove in a run with a double. Perrino followed that up with his third RBI of the game and the margin was 6-0 in favor of the visitors. Perrino singled in another tally in the sixth, giving him four RBI for the game, before the Profs got untracked.
 
Rowan scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to make it 8-1 and added three more in the eighth to slice the lead to 8-4. Ryan McIsaac smacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to close the gap to 8-6, but Tyler Apt (Williamstown/Williamstown) retired the next three hitters to preserve the 8-6 game one victory.
 
Rico Viani (Monroe Twp./Monroe Twp.) earned his third win of the season with 6.1 innings of work, allowing just one earned run and striking out four hitters.
 
Rowan carried that momentum over in the nightcap, scoring five runs in the first five innings against Aaron Winsker (Baltimore, MD/Hereford) for a 5-0 lead. The Ospreys broke the shutout attempt in the bottom of the sixth when Ryan O'Sullivan (Lacey Twp./Donovan Catholic) walked, then scored on a Tommy Talbot (Howell/Howell) double to cut the lead to 5-1.
 
The double extended the rookie's hitting streak to six straight games. He is 8-20 over the span and batting .400.
 
After the Profs added their sixth run in the top of the eighth inning, Stockton answered. O'Sullivan walked and Talbot singled. Meleo doubled, scoring O'Sullivan to make it a four-run game at 6-2 in favor of Rowan. The Profs tacked on one more run in the last frame to make the final score 7-2.
 
Meleo led the team with four hits on the day with Talbot adding three safeties. O'Sullivan scored four of the Osprey runs on the day in the pair of games.
 
The rubber game of the best-of-three series will be tomorrow afternoon in Glassboro. Game time is scheduled for 2 pm.