Galloway, NJ – Stockton University (13-9, 1-2 NJAC) could not hold an early lead and dropped a 6-3 decision to Kean University (13-11, 2-1 NJAC) on Thursday afternoon. Jordan Nitti (Hamilton/Steinert), Kevin Novobilsky (Ocean Twp./Ocean Twp.) and Cooper Fiore (Pottstown, PA/Pottsgrove) had two hits each for the Ospreys. Fiore  extended his on-base streak to 12 games.

The Cougars took an early 1-0 lead after one inning, before Stockton answered with a pair of runs in the third frame. With one away, Nitti singled and Novobilsky doubled. A balk scored Nitti and Max Kaplan (Wall/Wall) plated Novobilsky with a sacrifice fly for the 2-1 advantage.

The Cougars would re-take the lead with a single tally in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth for a comfortable 5-2 margin. The visitors added a single marker in the top of the seventh before Tucker Elder (Ewing/Ewing) smashed his third homer, and second in last two games, to slice the lead to 6-3. It extended Elder's hitting streak to six straight games.

The Ospreys tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth, when Fiore singled and Antonio Gatti (Howell/Howell) reached on an error. Unfortunately, the rally ended there with 6-3 being the final score.

Zack McCabe (Jackson/Jackson Memorial) started, tossing five innings and allowing three earned runs. After Dylan Sakele (Rumson/Rumson-Fair Haven) pitched the sixth inning, freshman Alfonso Lombardi (Wayne/Cedar Grove) came on for the final three frames scattering four hits and picking off two Cougar baserunners.

Six different Cougars rapped two hits each in the game with Christian Pellone scoring two runs to go with a pair of safeties. Winning pitcher Gianni Marano hurled eight strong innings before giving way to Nick Houghton, who earned his third save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.

The two teams will be back at it again tomorrow to finish the home-and-home series. Stockton will travel to Union, NJ to take on Kean for a 3:30 start.