Ithaca, NY– Ithaca College, ranked 15th in Division III, pushed across two runs in the bottom of the ninth to edge 30th-ranked Montclair State, 4-3 at Freeman Field on Saturday afternoon

ROB BOWNESS belted his ninth home run of the year and drove in two of the Red Hawks's three runs. Montclair State finishes the year at 27-16-2 and will now wait to see if it earns one of the at-large berths into the NCAA Division III Tournament, which begins on May 17. Bid will be announced on late Sunday evening.

Ithaca took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, however, Montclair State would take the lead in the bottom of the fourth with three runs.

BRIAN BUTLER walked to open th inning and ANDREW VICARO followed with a double to put runners at second and third. Rob Clark brought home Butler with a fielder's choice and reached on an error. Bowness then homered for the second straight day, hit ninth of the year, as MSU took a 3-2 lead.

The game stayed that way until the ninth. Senior Kyle Rutherford led off with a walk, and after sophomore Matt Samela went in to pinch-run, junior Eric Maya was hit by a pitch, his ninth of the season. Senior Brian Stamboly executed a sacrifice bunt, and senior Rob Litz drove Samela in on a fielder's choice. That brought Ferguson to bat, and his single ended the Bombers' regular season as Maya crossed the plate.

Ferguson was two-for-five with an RBI and a run scored. Vicaro had two hits for Montclair State, which was outhit in the game, 9-7.