GLASSBORO, NJ -- #4 Rowan opened New Jersey Athletic Conference play with a sweep of visiting Kean on Saturday, using a walk-off hit from Aly Reim to win 5-4 in eight innings in game one and then using a three-run fifth to break a tie game in a 5-2 victory in game two.

Game one
The Profs rallied from a 3-0 deficit, scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a one-run lead. The Cougars were able to tie in the seventh before the teams moved on to extra innings.

Kean plated two runs in the fourth and another in the sixth while KU starter Nikki Lusnia held the Rowan offense to one hit through five innings. Liz McCaffery and McKenzie Melvin both reached to start the sixth. McCaffery would score on a wild pitch followed by a RBI triple from Payton MacNair to plate Melvin. Abigail Pawlowski followed with a single to left to tie it at 3-3. Two batters later with two outs, Kate Evick doubled pinch runner Mikayla Dansky to give the home team its first lead.

The Cougars answered with a two-out RBI single in the seventh.

Emily McCutcheon entered to begin the eighth in place of starter Rylee Lutz. With a runner on second to start the frame via the international tie breaker rule, McCutcheon sent the Cougars down 1-2-3 to move on to the bottom half.

Now with Melvin placed on second, MacNair was intentionally walked to put two on. After a pair of popups, Reim flared a blooper to left just out of the reach of the leftfielder to allow Melvin to score and walk it off.

Melvin scored twice and added a pair of stolen bases in game one. Lutz went seven innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with one walk and six strikeouts for the no decision.

Game two
This time it was Rowan who built a lead only to see the other team tie things up, but a big three-spot in the fifth helped turn the tide for good.

Melvin had two hits, also adding an RBI along with MacNair, Reim, Evick, and Cami Morgan. Morgan's big pinch-hit RBI double in that fifth broke a 2-2 tie.

McCutcheon earned her second win on the day, logging all seven innings to improve to 11-0 this season. The junior fanned five while allowing the two runs on six hits and no walks.

The Profs scored two unearned runs in the third, as Melvin doubled in McCaffery and later MacNair scoring Melvin on an infield hit to get out to a 2-0 lead.

Kean's Maya Thompson cut the lead in half with her solo homer in the fourth and later an RBI pinch-hit single from Bella Truleove in the fifth knotted the teams up at 2-2.

With two on in the bottom of the sixth, Morgan broke the tie with her RBI double to the gap in left center. Reim followed with a sac fly to right and Evick would beat out a ball in the hole at short to score another run, giving the Profs a three-run cushion.

Rowan resumes NJAC action on Tuesday, April 1st with a trip to William Paterson for two starting at 2:30 p.m.