Boyertown, PA  – Sophomore starter TIM STRINGER, pitching on one day's rest, threw his second straight complete game and struck out nine to lead second-seeded Montclair St. to a 5-1 win over The top-seeded College of New Jersey Sunday afternoon in the final game of the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Regional at Bear Stadium.  

The win now sends Montclair State to the NCAA Division III World Series where the Red Hawks will face Aurora University in the opening round on Friday, May 26 at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, WI. Game time will be at 5:30 pm EDT.

The victory also capped off an amazing comeback by the Red Hawks, who dropped their first game against Frostburg State on Wednesday. Montclair then reeled off six consecutive victories to improve to 33-17-2. In the final four games of the tournament, MSU surrendered just four runs, including two to the high-powered TCNJ offense, which entered the tournament as one of the nation's top scoring teams.

Stringer, who fanned a total of 23 batters in 18.0 innings, was named the Mid-Atlantic Regional Most Outstanding Player.

Junior designated hitter ROB BOWNESS launched his 10th homer of the season, a 3-run shot to rightfield in the top of the first inning, spotting Stringer all the offense he needed.  Bowness became the first MSU player to reach double digits in round trippers since 2000.

Meanwhile the 5-11 righty came right after the Lions (38-8) in the first striking out the first two batters and running his regional tournament streak to 13 strikeouts in his last 18 batters going back to Friday night's start.

The only base runner Stringer allowed in the first four innings was TCNJ leadoff hitter Charles Iacono , who walked to open the fourth.  Iacono, the fourth leading base stealer in Division III entering the regional, was caught for just the second time this season, and Stringer followed with back-to-back K's to end the fourth.

Stringer's third straight strikeout opened the fifth and with two outs, senior Rich Kropp  hit a two-hopper to third that Rob Clark  couldn't field cleanly.  TCNJ junior Jeff Botti  followed with a drive to right center that barely fell beyond the diving effort of rightfielder SCOTT EVANGELIST  for the first hit off Stringer, a run-scoring double.

The Lions went in order in the sixth and started to make some noise in the seventh when Blake Bullis  reached on a one-out single and Chris Wilson  was hit by a pitch.  TCNJ put runners on the corners with two outs when MSU couldn't quite turn the inning-ending double play, and with the potential tying run on base, Stringer came through in the clutch with his final punch-out of the day.

After stranding another runner at third in the home eighth, the Red Hawks offense gave Stringer two more runs in the ninth on a LOU POLITAN  home run down the rightfield line.

Stringer set down the Lions in the bottom of the ninth getting the final out himself on a comebacker that sent the Red Hawk reserves flooding out of the dugout and the team to its 14th Division III World Series.  Montclair St. will face Aurora University on Friday at 5:30 p.m. EDT.

In a pivotal spot midway through the game, TCNJ appeared to turn the tide in the top of the fourth when sophomore lefty Bob Buskett, who joined Stringer on the All-Tournament Team, entered the game in relief with the bases loaded and no one out.  Buskett got Politan swinging for the first out and with Evangelist, the hero of Saturday night's win, at the plate the Red Hawks tried to squeeze, but Bowness was hung out to dry when Buskett's pitch was well wide of Evangelist's reach.  TCNJ catcher Gerard Haran  easily tug out Bowness, and the Lions had their choice of rundows, settling for Clark between second and third.

Due up third in the fourth, a pumped up Haran pleaded for base runners and had one when Iacono walked, but when Stringer got the caught stealing and strikeout on successive pitches, the wind had once again left the Lions' sails.

Stringer was joined on the All-Tournament team by Bowness, Evangelist, catcher ANDREW VICARO and shortstop KEVIN CUOZZI.

MSU will be making its 14th appearance in the World Series and first since 2001 when it finished in third place. Montclair, which has won three national titles (1987, 1993 and 2000), the very tightly contested series with the No. 1 ranked Lions winning four of seven meetings.