Wayne, NJ – Rensselaer junior lefthander Joe Zongol (Flower Mound, TX/ Southington) tossed a one-hitter and out dueled Montclair State junior righty TIM STRINGER (Annandale, NJ/North Hunterdon) as RPI won the "Battle of the Red Hawks", edging MSU 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at William Paterson University's Wightman Park.

Junior designated hitter Eric Redding ( Kerhonkson, NY/ Rondout Valley) provided the only run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning as Rensselaer improved to 10-1 this season and defeated Montclair State (7-6) for the second consecutive year, trimming MSU's lead in the all-time series to 9-7.

Zongol, who improved to 3-0 on the season, allowed a one-out single to Rob Clark (Livingston, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) in the top of the first and escaped one jam as he struck out eight and walked two. Zongol, who entered the day with a 0.44 ERA, lowered that mark to 0.30 following his 121-pitch complete game. Zongol has allowed just one earned run in 29.1 innings pitched this season.

Zongol and Stringer matched zeroes through the first five innings. Despite getting just one hit through the first four frames, RPI put together the first threat in the fourth. Sean Wilkes (Troy, NY/Catholic Central) and Ken Carroll ( Shelton, CT/ Fairfield Prep) drew walks to open the inning. A failed sacrifice attempt left runners at first and second with one out, however Stringer got out of the inning as he fanned the next hitter on a hit and run with Carroll being thrown out at third base to complete the inning-ending double play.

RPI would get the only run of the game in the sixth as Jason Pollard ( Hudson, NY/Hudson) was hit by a pitch with one out and Wilkes reached on a bunt single. Both runners would then move up as the throw to get Wilkes skipped into the outfield. After intentionally walking Carroll to load the bases, Redding lined to right field deep enough to score Pollard with the run. Another hit batter reloaded the bases, however Stringer escaped further damage by inducing a ground out to end the inning.

Montclair State would attempt to answer in the bottom of the inning as it put the first two runners on. THOMAS MEYER ( West Milford, NJ/West Milford) walked and JAMES SCELZO's ( Staten Island, NY/Petrides) sacrifice attempt was mishandled. MICHAEL NUNES ( Hazlet, NJ/ Raritan) sacrificed both runners over, but RPI caught a break as MSU's failed to convert on a squeeze for the second out. Zongol then fanned the final hitter to end the threat.

Zongol would retire the side in order in the seventh and eight innings, but walked pinch-hitter MARC PALESTINA ( Paramus, NJ/ Paramus) to lead off the ninth. Nunes moved the runner over with a sacrifice bunt and Palestina went to third on a ground out, putting the tying run 90 feet away. Zongol then got a ground out to third to end the game.

Stringer suffered the hard-luck loss to fall to 0-3. The righthander allowed three hits, fanned five and walked three itossing his third career complete game.

 Montclair State returns to action on Tuesday, March 27 as it travels to York College (PA) for a 3:30 matchup with the Spartans.