STOCKTON FALLS TWICE TO WILLIAM PATERSON, 6-4 & 5-2

Dan McGuckin

Richard Stockton (15-10, 3-3 NJAC) held the high-scoring William Paterson (20-5, 5-1) offense to just 11 runs in two games but came up on the short end of a 6-4, 5-2 sweep at the hands of the Pioneers.

Dan McGuckin (Sicklerville/Winslow Twp) extended his hitting streak to nine games with base hits in both contests. 

In the first game, Stockton took a 2-1 lead after two innings as Shawn Kessler (Bayville/Central Regional) singled in one run and Nick Scalise (Northfield/Mainland) executed a perfect squeeze bunt to plate Kessler.

The lead was short lived as the Pioneers came right back to tie it at 2-2 on an Adam Derner RBI single in the top of the third. Four errors plagued the Ospreys as they allowed unearned runs in the fifth and sixth before drawing within one at 4-3 as Barry Larro (Bridgeton/Cumberland) drove in a run in the bottom of the eighth.

Derner gave Paterson all the insurance they would need as he hit his league-leading 10th home run, a two-run opposite field shot, to make it 6-3 in the top of the ninth, and the Pioneers prevailed 6-4.

Josh Jensen yielded two runs in six innings to improve to 5-0. Glenn Flora tossed the last three frames to pick up his first save. Rob Somers had three hits for William Paterson and McGuckin countered with three hits for Stockton. Mark Crescenzi (Penns Grove/Penns Grove) pitched well, allowing just one earned run in 8.2 innings but taking the loss.

In the nightcap, it was all Pioneers as they scored single runs three different innings and plated two more on a two-run single by Mike Arnold in the eighth to take a 5-0 lead behind pitcher Tim O’Shea.

The Ospreys broke the shutout bid with two runs in the ninth on an error and an RBI single by Larro. O’Shea remained unbeaten at 5-0 as he scattered eight hits and struck out six in a complete game.

Justin Gordon (Brick/Brick Memorial) went 1-4 with a double and McGuckin extended his hitting streak with a single for the Ospreys.

For WPU, Jack Montanile went 3-5 in the nightcap after notching two hits in the first game. Derner was 2-5 with three RBI in the game one and 2-4 with another RBI in game two. Arnold had two hits and drove in two runs in the nightcap.