No.20/RV Baseball Survive Game One; Sweep Chestnut Hill in CACC First Round

PHILADELPHIA – The No.20 nationally-ranked Thomas Jefferson University baseball team (37-13) had a one-run double game winner by Jay Salsbery in game one while running up the score to 12-1 in game two as the Rams defeated Chestnut Hill College (25-22) in the First Round of the Central Atlantic Collegiate College (CACC) Tournament on Friday. 

WHAT HAPPENED 
GAME ONE: W, 9-8 

• The Rams started off strong with Javon Hernandez hitting a two-run homerun in the first innings for Jefferson to take the lead early on 

• Three more runs were added in the third by way of a Joshua Lopez single up the middle and a Justin Espinal two-run homerun of his own 

• The Griffins put two on the board in the fourth to trail by three runs. Jefferson responded in the sixth as Hernandez hit his second two-run homerun of the game. Espinal hit a sacrifice bunt that bounced down the first base line to get another run scored in as it became 8-2 

• Chestnut Hill had their own two-run homerun in the seventh while a wild pitch in the eighth made it 8-5 

• The Griffins loaded the bases after three walks and capitalized with a two-run double and a one-run single to the right side that tied it at 8-8 

• The Rams looked to get ahead as Julio Frometa Gomez was walked as the game-winning run. Jordan Tiburcio had a sacrifice bunt to get Gomez to second. That set up Salsbery to nail the game-winning double down to right center to give Jefferson the 9-8 victory in game one 

• Tyler Behm takes the victory as he allowed only two hits with a strikeout in the ninth inning. Danny Kerr pitched the first eight innings with nine hits and five runs, three earned, while striking out three batters 

QUICK HITS 
Javon Hernandez: 2-for-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI 
Thomas Matuszewski: 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 Doubles 
Joshua Lopez: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI 
Justin Espinal: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 3 RBI 
Jay Salsbery: 2-for-4, 1 RBI 
Danny Kerr: 8.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 SO 
Tyler Behm: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 SO 

GAME TWO: W, 12-1 

• The Rams continued their scoring attack as they put two in the first inning with a Thomas Matuszewski double to right center and a Lopez single to the left side. They continued it in the second as Gabe Silva nailed a two-run triple to right center and Matuszewski capped it with a three-run homerun as the game became a 7-0 lead for Jefferson 

• Silva had another RBI in the third with a single to the right side while Lopez drove a solo homerun in the fourth to turn it to a 9-0 differential for the Rams 

• Justin Egner and Silva both had one-run doubles in the fifth with Egner replicating it in the seventh to make it 12-0 

• The Griffins added a run in the eighth, but Jefferson held strong to leave game two with a victory and the sweep to advance in the CACC Tournament 

• Albert Bobadilla pitched 7.2 innings on the game, allowing three hits and one run with four strikeouts. Kevin Baez pitched the final 1.1 innings, getting two strikeouts to end the day for the Rams 

QUICK HITS 
Justin Egner: 2-for-2, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 Doubles 
Gabe Silva: 3-for-4, 1 R, 4 RBI, 1 Double, 1 Triple 
Thomas Matuszewski: 3-for-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 Double, 1 HR 
Joshua Lopez: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI 
Albert Bobadilla: 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 SO 
Kevin Baez: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 SO 

UP NEXT 
Jefferson now advances to the Double Elimination Portion of the CACC Championship as they head to Wilmington, Delaware to take on No.2 North Seed Felician University on Thursday, May 8 at 9 a.m.