LYNDHURST, N.J. – Junior right fielder Sean Downey (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) broke a 1-1 tie with a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to lead Felician University to a 3-1 victory over visiting Thomas Jefferson University in the first game of the teams' Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at the Lyndhurst Recreation Complex. Jefferson erased a four-run deficit to earn a 5-4 triumph in the nightcap.

The Golden Falcons were playing for the first time in 10 days. Both of Saturday's games were scheduled for seven innings. Graduate center fielder Joe Curcio (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) was on base five times for Felician (3-8, 1-1 CACC).

Jefferson (5-2, 2-1) scratched across an unearned run in the second inning of Game 1 off Golden Falcon senior right-hander Alex Schwartz (Absecon, N.J./Eastern Regional). That was the only blemish on the line of Schwartz (1-1), who pitched through the sixth. But the Felician offense had failed to score off Ram freshman righty Jem Sisco (Southampton, N.Y./Southampton) in four frames.

With two outs in the fifth, Curcio lined a triple just inside the first base bag and down the right field foul line. When the throw to third was wild and rolled out of play, Curcio was sent home with the tying run. The inning was extended when Shawn Vazquez's (Millville, N.J./Vineland) infield pop-up was dropped, and Downey took advantage, sending Sisco's first offering well over the left field fence.

Schwartz yielded four hits, all singles, and one walk to pick up his 10^th career NCAA victory. Graduate student Dwayne Marshall (Piscataway, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) worked around a pair of walks in the seventh for his first save. Curcio finished 3 for 3, while sophomore Zack Austin (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South) was 2 for 3 with a run scored for Jefferson.

Felician moved ahead, 4-0, in the second inning of Game 2 on a Levis Aguila (Miramar, Fla./Hialeah Gardens) RBI double followed by a three-run home run from Edwin Tavarez (Garfield, N.J./Garfield). But after Tavarez's blast, the Golden Falcons loaded the bases with no one out and could not push across any more runs.

After scoring a run in the fourth, the Rams took advantage of three walks and an error to push across a run in the sixth and chase Golden Falcon starter Michael Gutierrez (Garfield, N.J./Garfield). Felician appeared on the verge of escaping further trouble after a home-to-first double play, but Jefferson senior Richard Joa (Matawan, N.J./Matawan Regional) tied the game with a pinch-hit two-run double.

The NCAA has adopted the international tiebreaker as a COVID protocol for the 2021 season, and it was used in a Felician game for the first time when the teams entered the eighth. The Rams' runner which was placed on second base advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on aa Austin sacrifice fly, and the Golden Falcons were retired in order in the home half.

Jefferson's Matt Bukavich (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) pitched three innings of perfect relief with five strikeouts to earn the victory. Gutierrez worked five-plus frames, allowing no earned runs on three hits in a no-decision.

Felician is next in action on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. against Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Conn.