Union, N.J. (2/8/23) – The Kean University baseball team suffered a 2-1 defeat in their season opener against Widener University on Wednesday afternoon.

The Cougars (0-1) started off the 2023 season with their earliest opening day in program history.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Kean scratched across a run in their first at-bat as Brett Hilsheimer lined a one out single and moved to third later on a Christian Pellone double.  With two outs and runners on second and third, Josh Jackson worked a walk to load the bases.  Gianni Marano registered the first RBI of the season with a single and a 1-0 lead.

The Pride (1-0) evened things up in the third as Stephen Posner had a leadoff walk and advanced to scoring position on a sacrifice bunt.  Kyle Brex doubled him home one batter later.

Widener scored what would be the winning run in their half of the sixth as Nick Barenz doubled with one out.  Andrew Yates followed with a double of his own for what would be the final of 2-1.

Widener had another opportunity in the ninth with two runners in scoring position and one out.  Marano worked out of trouble with two strikeouts to end the threat.

Kean had one last shot in the bottom of the ninth as Jackson led off the inning with a double.  He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, but Kyle Laing was able to nail down his first save of the season with a drawn in infield groundout and a strikeout.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Phil Marcantonio was 1-for-1 with a pinch hit double while Jackson finished 1-for-2 with a walk.

For the Pride, Hayden O'Neill (1-0) earned his first collegiate victory with four shutout innings of relief work allowing just one hit.

UP NEXT:

The Cougars host Drew University on Friday at 2:30 p.m.