PARSIPPANY, N.J. - A five-run fifth inning broke open a tight game as the Caldwell College baseball team beat Felician College, 7-1 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest Thursday afternoon at Smith Field. The win gives the Cougars a 6-8 overall record and evens their CACC mark at 1-1, while the Golden Falcons drop to 7-11, 0-1 CACC.

With the game scoreless through Felician's half of the fifth, the Cougars loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth without recording a hit. The game's first run was scored when senior Tommy Murphy (Monroe, NY/Washingtonville) was hit by a pitch, bringing home junior Jorge Torres (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella), who also was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Senior Chris Chiarappa (Elmont, NY/Holy Trinity) followed with a single that plated sophomore Jon Irwin (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) and freshman Nick Questa (Boonton, NJ/Boonton) for a 3-0 lead. A grounder by sophomore Ray Keelan (Barnegat, NJ/Southern Regional) drove in Murphy, then sophomore Adric Saxon (Coral Springs, FL/Broward CC) singled home Chiarappa to put the Cougars on top 5-0.

Murphy drove in Caldwell's final two runs on a sacrifice fly in the sixth and a single in the eighth. He finished the day 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. The only blemish against Cougars' starter Stephen Pfeil (Hampstead, NH/Pinherton Acad.) came in the seventh, when Jon Del Franco led off the inning with a solo home run to center. Pfeil, pictured, who gave up the one run and five hits in eight innings, struck out a career-high 11 batters while walking just one to improve to 1-2 on the year. Nick Riker (0-4) worked five innings, allowing six hits and six runs while fanning seven.

Next up for the Cougars is a non-conference game at Adelphi University on Friday, Mar. 28, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Caldwell and Felician play a CACC doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 29 at noon at Breslin Field in Lyndhurst, N.J.