Union, N.J. (5/3/15) – For the sixth time in program history, the Kean University baseball team claimed the New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, by topping #1 Rutgers-Camden, 7-2 on Sunday afternoon.
The championship is the first since 2012 as #2 Kean marched through the winner's bracket in this year's tournament beating #5 Montclair State, 3-2, #3 Ramapo, 5-4, #6 The College of New Jersey, 8-6 and #1 Rutgers-Camden 7-2.
In today's action, senior Charles Thielmann improved his season record to an ironic 7-2 after tossing his 19th career complete game and seventh this season. He allowed one earned run with six strikeouts and three walks while scattering 10 hits.
The Cougars (32-10) led from wire-to-wire posting two runs right out of the gate. Junior Matt Meleo led off the inning with a single and fellow classmate Ryan Kelley followed with a walk. Back-to-back singles from junior Sal Taormina and freshman Matt Krupa pushed Kean out to an early lead.
Rutgers-Camden (24-16) got one back in the third as Adam Bartholomew recorded a two-out RBI single.
The Cougars then employed a balanced scoring attack plating two runs in the third, a single run in the fourth and two more in the fifth. In the third, Kean used three hits for their two runs, with Kelley collecting the RBI. In the fourth an RBI double from Meleo (one of just three total extra base hits on the day) made it 5-1 and Kean sealed the win with two more in the fifth. Junior Ryan Reitmeyer collected an RBI single and junior James Lyczkowski lofted a sacrifice fly for the 7-1 lead.
The Scarlet Raptors got one back in the seventh, but that would be as close as they would get as Thielman closed the door, allowing just a single the rest of the way.
Offensively Krupa was 3-for-4 while Meleo and Taormina were each 2-for-4 with a double.
For the Scarlet Raptors, Pedro Perez and Jon Theckston accounted for six (three each) of the team's 10 hits.
The Cougars have two non-conference regular season games left on the schedule this week before the announcement of the NCAA Tournament late next Sunday night.