PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - Junior Luke Loughery (Sussex, N.J.) went 1-for-4 on the day including a homerun in the top of the eighth over the left field fence, but the Bloomfield College baseball team dropped their season opener on Tuesday afternoon at Finnerty Field to Pace University, 7-1.

The Bears open up at 0-1, while the Pacesetters improve to 2-0 on the young season.

Pace jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first against junior starter Carlos Tejeda (New York, N.Y.) with an RBI on a fielder's choice and an RBI single to right field from Michael Gulino. A double down the left field line from James Wynn put another two runs on the board in the sixth after senior Justin Eclavea (South San Fransico, Calif.) came on in relief for the Bears.

The Pacesetters threatened to add to their lead in the bottom of the seventh when Eclavea hit a batter to load the bases with two outs. Classmate, Kyle Murzyn (Glassboro, N.J) came into the game and struck out the final batter to get the Bears out of the jam.

Bloomfield sliced its deficit to three in the top of the eighth as Loughery's solo shot brought life into the visiting team's day but after back-to-back two-out singles from Juan Reina (Paterson, N.J.) and Harry Montero (Millville, N.J.) sophomore Isaac Pichardo (Passaic, N.J.) struck out swinging to end the Bears rally.

Pace then broke it open against Murzyn in the bottom of the frame. The Bears closer gave up a single to right field after striking out a pinch hitter to start the inning. He retired the next batter he faced but a single to left center drove in a run and then Pace pushed across two more in the eighth as a 2 RBI double to right-center did the majority of the damage.

Tejeda (0-1) gave up two runs - one earned - on five hits, while striking out two and walking three over 5.0 innings. Eclavea relinquished two runs on three hits and a walk in 1.2 innings, while Murzyn allowed three runs on three hits, all earned with two strikeouts and a walk.

Josh Garran (1-0) allowed no runs and scattered four hits over the first 5.0 innings for Pace, striking out one and walking two.
Loughery (RBI), Montero and Pichardo were all 1-for-4, while Reina went 2-for-4 to start the season. Sophomore Anthony Lantigua (Belleville, N.J.) went 1-for-5 in the leadoff spot and junior DH Luis Hildago went 1-for-3 including a double and a stolen base on the afternoon.

The Bears take off a day to figure things out before returning to action against Pace again on Thursday, Mar. 3 at 2:30 pm from Finnerty Field.

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