Moosic, Pa. (5/18/16) – Senior Richie Ferguson tossed a complete game gem to propel the Kean University baseball team to a 7-1 win over Salisbury University in the first round of NCAA Tournament action in the Mid-Atlantic Regional.
Kean advances to a winners bracket game on Thursday, May 19th at 7:45 p.m. against the winner of the #2 St. John Fisher/#7 Salve Regina matchup.
Ferguson (8-4) recorded his seventh complete game of the season as he allowed just one run with five strikeouts and two walks.
The sixth seeded Cougars jumped on the board in the second with a single run as Andy Lopez started off the inning reaching via an error. A single from Matt Krupa and a sacrifice from Shayne Fontana put runners on second and third with one out. Ryan Reitmeyer delivered with a groundout RBI for the quick 1-0 lead.
Kean added to that in the second as Chris Amato got things going with a single. He swiped second and moved to third on a single from Ryan Kelley. Sal Taormina made it 2-0 with an RBI single in the hole.
The Cougars continued their single run scoring in the fourth as Reitmeyer singled to start the frame. He would later score on an RBI single from Amato.
Third-seeded Salisbury erased the shutout in the fourth with a two out RBI single from Tyler Hrycak.
Taormina launched his second homerun of the season, a towering shot into leftcenter to open the seventh to put the score at 4-1.
Kean blew open the game in the eighth as Kelley, Taormina and Lopez all recorded RBI as the Cougars sent nine men to the plate.
Taormina was 2-for-4 with three RBI on the day while Amato was 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. In all the Cougars collected 13 hits in the win.