Boyertown, PA - DAVE WURST arrives at Bear Stadium for the Mid-Atlantic Regional in Boyertown, Pa. just over 90 minutes before defending national champion Montclair State University took the field for its opening contest on the road back to the NCAA Division III College World Series.

The Red Hawks' second baseman had spent the previous night away from his teammates and at home in New Jersey, sick with a virus that put his availability for Thursday's game with Elizabethtown (Pa.) in jeopardy.

"I felt pretty bad (Wednesday), but I really wanted to play," Wurst said.

Elizabethtown likely wishes he didn't.

Wurst snapped a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning by belting his fourth home run of the season as top-seeded Montclair State scored three times in each o its final two at-bats to down sixth-seeded Elizabethtown, 9-3. The Red Hawks (32-9) will face third-seeded DeSales University at 3:00 pm.

This marks th 20th straight year that Montclair State, ranked fourh in the nation, has opened the regional tournament with a victory.

"I was just trying to contribute, ge something going for us and I was very fortunate (Thursday)," said Wurst, who went 3-for-5 with four RBI. "Sometimes things work out well for you in this game and other times they don't" Today, everything worked out well."

Junior outfielder CHRIS BARAN followed Wurst's blast by sending the next pitch over the fence for a solo shot, which was also his fourth of the season. He collected two hits in the game with two RBI and a run scored.

"I thought its was out off the bat," Baran said. "But as I was rounding first, I thought that the outfielder might catch it."

The duo combined to give the Red Hawks their final runs in the eighth. Senior catcher JEFF SCHRIBER reached on an error with one out and moved to third on a hit-and-run single by junior GEORGE BECKER. Becker took second on the throw, and both came around to score when Wurst tripled down the right-field line. Baran capped the rally with an RBI single.

Montclair State led 3-1 in the sixth, but Elizabethtown (18-18) scored twice in the frame to knot the score. Brad Duppstadt of the Blue Jays doubled to lead off the inning against Montclair State freshman JEFF GOGAL, who allowed one earned run and five hits with nine strikeouts and no walks in his NCAA debut.

Junior reliever Kevin Rakowski earned the triumph yielding one hit in one inning of work. He induced Shawn Price into an inning-ending double play with two runners in scoring position.

JASON ARRE pitched the final two innings for Montclair State, striking out one and walking one.

"We were able to turn the game around defensively with that double play and then got things going offensively," Montclair State coach Norm Schoenig said. "We were knocking on the door all day and we knew that eventually , we would break through and score some runs."