Little Falls, NJ – Junior second baseman Zack Thomas (East Heddern, CT/Xavier) lined a two-out single to left field to score the winning run in the top of the ninth inning as Eastern Connecticut State edged Montclair State, 5-4 in NCAA Division III Baseball action at Yogi Berra Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
Thomas finished 3-for-5 with two RBI as the Warriors (10-6) won their sixth straight and gained a measure of revenge against the Red Hawks, who fell to 9-10 on the year. Last season, Montclair eliminated ESCU from the NCAA Division III World Series by the same identical score.
Junior third baseman Rob Clark (Livingston, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) belted a two-run homer for Montclair State, which still leads the all-time series between the teams who have won a combined seven national championships, 22-13.
The Warriors plated the winning run as pinch-hitter Trey Bongiovanni (Meriden, CT/F.T. Maloney) line a one-out double down the left field line off MSU reliever
JAIRO MENDEZ (Kearny, NJ/Kearny). Mendez would get the next hitter to pop up for the second out, however Thomas lined a 1-0 pitch into short left field scoring pinch runner Jon Dalton (Standish, ME/Bonny Eagle) with the eventual game-winning run.
Montclair State would threaten in the ninth as pinch-hitter
ED KLOEPPING (Pennsville, NJ/Pennsville) reached second on an error. But LaVorgna would get the next two batters to notch his second save of the season and Eastern Connecticut's sixth consecutive triumph.
Righthander Sam Iverson (New Milford, CT/New Milford) picked up the win in relief as he allowed a hit and one walk in two innings. Iverson evened his record at 1-1. Mendez suffered the loss to fall to 0-2 as he gave up the one run and two hits, striking out two. Joe Esposito (East Haven, CT/East Haven) went the first six innings for ESCU giving up four runs and six hits in six innings. Esposito struck out five and walked two. Montclair's
ENRIQUE GOMEZ (Edison, NJ/St. Joseph's) fanned five and walked one allowing four runs (three earned) and 10 hits over the first seven innings.
Eastern Connecticut jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second as Matt Cooney (Arlington, MA/Arlington) led off with a single and went to second on Will Moran's (Manchester, CT/Manchester) one-out hits. Cooney would score on an RBI single by Joe Cousineau (Newington, CT/Newington) and Eric O'Toole (Waterbury, CT/Sacred Heart) delivered the second run with a bunt base hit to make the score 2-0. Thomas capped the inning for the Warriors with a double to left center.
Montclair State answered with two in its half of the inning. Clark and
ROB BOWNESS (Sparta, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) each singled and
LOU POLITAN (Livingston, NJ/Livingston) walked to load the bases.
KEVIN CUOZZI (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy) drove in a run with a fielder's choice and
MICHAEL NUNES' (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan) two-out single cut the deficit to 3-2.
ECSU would increase its lead in the fifth as Shawn Gilblair (Windham, CT/Windham) drove home Randy Re (Danbury, CT/Danbury) for a 4-2 advantage. Re led off with a base hit, stole second and went to third as the throw skipped into center field. Clark then erased that lead in the bottom of the sixth as he connected for his second home run of the season.
ANDREW VICARO (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) singled to open the inning and Clark connected on a 2-2 pitch over the left center field fence.
Re has two hits for the Warriors while Nunes, Clark and Vicaro were each 2-for-4.
Montclair State will next play on Friday, April 6 as the Red Hawks travel to Jersey City to face the Gothic Knights of NJCU at 3:00 pm. MSU's Wednesday, April 4 contest at Rensselaer was postponed with no makeup date announced. Eastern Connecticut is scheduled to play at home against Amherst on Wednesday at 4:00 pm.
