BOX SCORE 

EWING, N.J. - The fourth-seeded William Paterson baseball team (29-13) was eliminated from the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament with a 5-1 decision at third-seeded The College of New Jersey (23-19) in a second-round game, May 3.

The Pioneers broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third as senior shortstop Anthony Dorio (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst) led off the inning with a walk.  Junior third baseman James Lauer (Hamilton, N.J./Pennington Prep) laid down the sacrifice bunt, and sophomore A.J. Flores (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) plated Dorio on a single that bounced along the right-field line to put WP ahead, 1-0.

Three consecutive singles led off the Lions' fourth inning to load the bases and freshman Jacob Dewitt delivered a RBI single through the middle to knot the score.  A ground ball to second base by freshman Josh Limon plated NJAC Player of the Year Mike Galeotafiore and the Lions held a 2-1 advantage.

William Paterson threatened again in the seventh inning as junior catcher Vin Fondacaro (Pompton Plains, N.J./Pequannock) and Dorio reached base with back-to-back singles, but a double play ended the Pioneer threat.

In the bottom of the eighth, TCNJ tacked on three insurance runs. Dewitt was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 3-1. A balk and a wild pitch scored two more to give the Lions a 5-1 win.

Sophomore Josh Jensen (West Milford, N.J./West Milford) suffered the loss for the Pioneers (7-2), surrendering two runs on seven hits with three strike outs.  Freshman Tom Gaccione (Little Falls, N.J./Passaic Valley Regional) allowed three runs without recording an out, and junior Matt Goitz (Hawthorne, N.J./Hawthorne) struck out two without allowing a run in his 1.0 inning.

Senior Eric Lewis got the win for TCNJ allowing one run on six hits in 8.0 innings.  NJAC Fireman of the Year Mike Ham closed the game surrendering one hit in 1.0 inning. 

Sophomore second baseman Scott Ptaszynski (Wharton, N.J./Morris Hills) went 2-for-4 , and Flores was 1-for-3 with a run-batted-in.

With the loss, the Pioneers were knocked out of the NJAC Tournament, while The College of New Jersey will face Rowan University in a third-round elimination game.  William Paterson will wait to find out from the NCAA selection committee whether its season will continue with an at-large bid to the NCAA championship tournament.