Little Falls, NJ – A grand slam defined and altered the court of the opener of Saturday's Ramapo-Montclair State doubleheader.

Another blast over the fence with the bases loaded helped shape the second game. Only it wasn't a grand slam. It wasn't even a hit.

Confused? Don't be. Because when everything was over, Montclair State was in a familiar spot. Still comfortable in the first place in the New Jersey Athletic Conference baseball standings.

SCOTT ALLAN's grand slam in the bottom of the ninth tied the first game, and Allan's RBI single two innings later lifted the Red Hawks to a 5-4 victory. In the nightcap, Ramapo's Leon Owen hit a bases-loaded drive over the left field fence in the sixth, but lost credit for a homer when he missed first base and it was ruled that Ramapo first base coach Jeff Mativienko had assisted him in returning to touch the bag. That enabled Montclair to maintain its lead and the Red Hawks went on to a 7-4 victory.

The sweep allowed Montclair State (22-8, 12-1 NJAC) to increase its lead to 4 ½ games over second-place Ramapo (21-12, 8-60, which had looked to this doubleheader as a chance to prove itself against the conference leader. Instead, what began as a good afternoon for the Roadrunners disintegrated into a frustrating, bizarre day.

That process began in the ninth of the first game. Ramapo starter Shaun Burstein was working on a three-hitter through eight innings. But Dave Wirst led off the ninth with a single, and one out later, CRAIG CONWAY walked and BRIAN ELLERSON singled, loading the bases for Allan.

"I was just looking for a hit to knock in a couple of runs," said Allan, who was 0-of-3 before the slam. "I wasn't trying to be the big hero.

But when he lifted a 1-1 pitch over the right field fence, that's what Allan became. "Scotty's a gutty kid," MSU coach Norm Schoenig said. "Just when it looks like he's at his worst, he comes up big.
Allan did that again two innings later, when his two-out single to the gap in right-center scored Ellerson with the winning run. Ellerson had singled and stolen second.

Allan continued his hot hitting in the first inning of the nightcap, with a two-run single that opened the scoring and put the Red Hawks ahead to stay. Montclair led, 5-1, in the sixth when Chris Niskoch and Jon Encarnacion drew back-to-back walks and Jason Valloni was hit by a pitch.

Owen drilled a pitch off JEFF GOGAL (6-1) over the left field fence. But it wound up as a three-run out because Owen didn't touch first base until he was assisted there by the coach.

"What happened was he (Owen) missed the bag and the coach (Matvienko) stepped over the line to help him back," Schoenig said. "I think if he had touched him before he got to the bag it might have been different."

"I looked up," said Gogal, "and I saw the coach pulling him back to the bag, and I said, 'That's illegal' and pointed it out."

All he did was give me a high-five when I missed the bag," Owen said of Matvienko. "They said he pulled me back. I've never seen anything like this."

Gogal regained his composure and retired the next four hitters before allowing a leadoff single to Jon Canter in the eighth. Kevin Rakowski relieved and picked up his first save with two scoreless innings. A SEAN MORRISON two-run homer in the seventh completed the scoring for Montclair.