Marietta, OH - After Montclair State split a doubleheader at Eastern Connecticut on April 18, Montclair coach Kevin Cooney came back to New Jersey thoroughly impressed with the pitching staff his team had faced.

Montclair State (30-14-1) will get a first-hand look at that pitching contingent from Eastern Connecticut (35-11) tomorrow at 10am when the two square off in the opening game of the NCAA Division 3 World Series here at Pioneer Park. It will be Montclair's fifth straight appearance in the World Series, which it has yet to win.

"Eastern Connecticut will have the best pitching of all the teams out there," said Cooney, who has taken his team to the World Series in each of his four seasons as the head coach. "The kids they have on that staff are good enough to be Division I pitchers."

The Montclair-Eastern Connecitcut matchup will be followed by games between North Central of Illinois (31-11) and Wisconsin-Oshkosh (34-3), the No. 1 ranked team in Division 3, California State-San Diego (32-11) and North Carolina Wesleyan (44-7) will meet in the third game of the double elimination tournament. Last year's national champion, Marietta, did not survive its regional, which was won by North Central.

Montclair could be facing Eastern Connecticut's Norm Worthington, who gave up 11 hits in pitching the route of a 6-4 victory over Montclair more than a month ago. The righthander is 6-0 with a 3.10 earned run average. Eastern Connecticut, which won the World Series in 1983, also has Brian Cassidy (10-2) with two saves and 2.45 ERA and Jeff Morrow (6-1), who owns a 2.91 ERA. Both are righthanders.

Cooney has decided to start freshman BRIAN DEVINS (9-2), who won the second game of the April doubleheader against Eastern Connecticut, 13-4. The lefthander has 74 strikeouts in 62 innings of work and has a save to go with his 4.21 ERA.

"One, he beat the best team already. And two, of all our starters, Brian can come back on limited rest better than all the others," said Cooney in explaining his selection of Devins. " Brian won all three games in the region, two of them in relief. He's a polished pitcher who throws hard and has a real good curveball. He also changes speeds well and can mis in a knuckleball."

Devins played for Mount Olive High a year ago, opened some eyes in his first college start when he struck out 16 batters in a 7-1 victory over Maine on February 19.

The next two pitchers in Montclair's rotation for the series will be JEFF VANDEROEF and WAYNE MASTERS, both righthanders. Vanderoef (9-1), a sophomore from Basking Ridge, N.J., has a 4.14 ERA in 74 innings and Masters (3-1), a sophomore from West Caldwell, N.J., has a 4.66 ERA in 57 innings.

ANTHONY FOTI and BRIAN CHESWICK who each started and won a game for Montclair last year in the World Series, won't be starting this time. Foti, 10-0 in 1986, hurt his arm and won't be available.  Cheswick (3-3), a senior lefthander, set a World Series record with 14 strikeouts against Wisconsin-Oshkosh last spring, but has been incnsistent as a starter and will come out of the bullpen.

The Eastern Connecticut pitchers are likely to have vivid memories of two of Montclair State's most productive hitters - No. 4 JOHN DEUTSCH and No. 5 PEPE HERRERO. Deutsch, who had four hits, including a homer, and four RBI in the victory over the Connecticut school, has socked a school-record 19 homers. The lefthanded-hitting sophomore has a .374 average and 67 RBI. Herrero reached base all five trips during that second game in Willimantic, Conn., hitting a home among his three hits, scoring four runs and knocking in three. The righthanded junir has a .435 average 13 hme runs, 25 doubles, 63 RBI and 81 hits. Hererro need four hits to tie the single-season hit record at Montclair set by Jody Tobia in 1985.

"What Herrero has done batting behind Deutsch is amazing," said Cooney. "Every chance his get to drive in a run, he does it."

Montclair, batting .344 as a team, will look for leadership from Jim Fasan, picked as the shortstop on the the All-World Series Team the last two seasons. The No. 2 hitter has a .397 average, six homers, 48 RBI and leads the Indians with 57 runs scored. Leadoff batter and second baseman KEVIN CAVALLO is batting .363 with 26 RBI and 52 runs. Batting third for Montclair is JOHN MCCLAIN, who has a .330 average, six homers and 40 RBI. Center fielder LEROY HORN has hit at a .364 clip with 12 doubles and 41 runs batted in and catcher Bill Coyle stans at .364 with five homers and 35 RBI.

Coyle, a backup for two years, has hit better than expected this season.

"He's been a real surprise as a hitter," said Cooney. "He had a great regional, hitting two homers. Behind the plate, he's a leader and he blocks everything."

Montclair had started its season with a Florida trip and returned with a 7-6 record.

"Our Florida schedule was more difficult than usual and we preached to our kids all year that they were going to be used to seeing good pitching," said Cooney. "We figure that playing a tougher schedule would help us in this tournament."

Eastern Connecticut's attack is sparked by Joe Crimi, who has a .465 average, seven homers and 35 RBI, and Mike DeLucia, .363 with five homers and 33 RBI. The team average is .304.

This won't be the first time the two have men in post-season action. Montclair was eliminated from the 1983 World Series by Eastern Connecticut and, in 1984, Montclair was moved up to the Northeast Region where its defeated Eastern Connecticut to eaned a trip here.