Camden, NJ – Senior first baseman
TOMMY WARTH drove in three runs and righthander
JAY COOK tossed seven shutout innings as fifth-seeded Montclair State ousted fourth-seed and host Rutgers-Camden in the 2005 New Jersey Athletic Conference Baseball Championship on Saturday afternoon.
BRIAN BUTLER and
DANNY RODRIGUEZ each had three hits as the Red Hawks (15-21) now advance to Sunday's action where they will face The College of New Jersey at 1:00 pm. The winner of the NJAC Tournament receives and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.
Tyler Inkster had two hits for the Scarlet Raptors (28-11), who dropped two of three meetings with Montclair State this season.
The Red Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first as Rodriguez singled to opening the inning and Butler followed with soft line drive to left for base hit. Both runners moved up on a balk and Rodriguez scored when Warth dumped a base hit the opposite way to left field.
Montclair State would add to the lead in with three runs in the fifth as
KEVIN CUOZZI walked and Rodriguez drove a pitch through the right side putting runners at the corners. Butler then singled to left for a 2-0 MSU lead and after a fly out, Warth plated two more runs with a double to left center scoring Rodriguez and Butler for a four-run MSU cushion.
The rest was left to Cook, who defeated Rutgers-Camden for the second time this season. Cook allowed six hits and struck out six as he improved to 4-2 this season. He allowed leadoff double to Dustin Roach to lead off the fifth, but retired the next three hitters to keep the game scoreless. Cook also allowed consecutive two-out singles in the seventh, but retired the final batter on a grounder.
MSU added one more run in the seventh as Rodriguez singled with one out and went to third on Butler's third hit of the contest. Rodriguez then scored as reliever Matt Novella uncorked a wild pitch to make the score, 5-0.
Rutgers-Camden got its run in the eighth as Ed McDonnelltripled with one out and scored on Butch Amato's RBI ground out to short.
Jason Ronca took the loss. Ronca (5-3) allowed five hits and four runs in four innings. He walked four and fanned one.
