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BOYERTOWN, PA – Blake Bullis and Andrew Cosgrove launched homeruns, while Bob Buskett tossed nine innings with three strikeouts and four hits allowed as #1 nationally ranked The College of New Jersey held off #14 Franklin & Marshall College 3-0 in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Baseball Mid-Atlantic Regional at Boyertown High School’s Bear Stadium.
Burkett allowed base runners in four of the first five innings of the game, but retired the last 13 batters he faced as the top-seeded Lions (37-6) moved into the winners bracket where they will face the winner of the seventh seed Frostburg State University versus third-seed Kean University game on Friday at noon. Franklin & Marshall (29-10), the fifth seed and the only team to play twice on day one as the Diplomats knocked off fourth-seed Gwynedd-Mercy College in the first game of the tournament, will play Thursday against the winner of the tournament’s first elimination game between sixth seed Alvernia College and second seed Montclair State University. F&M starting pitcher Jeremy Knox (Sr., Bronx, NY/Iona Prep) kept the Lions off the scoreboard until the sixth inning as he allowed a single in the first inning, a single in the second inning, a walk in the third inning, a walk and a fielding error in the fourth and put the side down 1-2-3 in the fifth to keep the game scoreless. TCNJ’s earliest threat in the game came in the fourth inning as Blake Bullis reached on a throwing error at third base and Chris Wilson walked with one out, but Knox worked out the jam with back-to-back fly balls to right field to end the inning. The Lions scored the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning as Bullis pulled a 340-foot home run to left field for a 1-0 lead. The College of New Jersey added to the lead in the sixth as Rich Kropp singled to right centerfield and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jeff Botti, before Cosgrove homered to left field for the 3-0 final. Buskett kept the Diplomats off the scoreboard in the early inning thanks to double play ground balls in the first and fourth innings, while setting F&M down in the order in the second and working around a single in the third inning. Overall, the Diplomats best chance to score came in the fifth inning as Stephen Frederick (Sr., Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) singled with one out before Rich Gallugi (So., Peabody, MA/St. John’s Prep) reached on a throwing error at third base to put runners on first and second. Jon Compitello (Sr., Yardley, PA/George School) reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners with two outs, by Buskett got Tom Miller (So., York, PA/Central York) to pop up to first base to end the threat. At the plate, Rob Stern (So., Franklin Lakes, NJ/Indian Hills) finished two-for-four to lead the Diplomats, while Kropp was three-for-four with a run scored for the Lions. On the mound, Knox allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts in seven innings, while Brad Andres (Fr., Belle Mead, NJ/Carroll) finished the game allowing two hits in an inning of work. The loss marks the second of the season for Knox (10-2) as he fell to 0-2 against TCNJ this year after allowing two runs to take the loss in an 8-4 loss at Caplan Field on March 24.
On the year, Knox is 10-2 with a 2.81 earned run average and 53 strikeouts in 83.1 innings of work as he is now 19-8 in his career with 148 strikeouts and 43 walks allowed in 221.1 innings with a 3.37 ERA.
Buskett went the distance for the Lions improving to 7-0 on the year as the win marked just the second complete game of the year tossed by The College of New Jersey pitching staff. The loss marks the first time the Diplomats have been shutout since a 1-0 loss to Messiah College in an elimination game at last year’s NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Tournament at Boyertown snapping a streak of 38 games (314.2 innings) with at least one run.
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