Montclair, NJ – Senior leftfielder JEFF MILLER (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) went 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI while junior centerfielder MICHAEL NUNES (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan) and freshman MARC PALESTINA (Paramus, NJ/Paramus) each belted home runs as Montclair State scored in all but one of its at bats in a 12-6 victory over Ithaca College at Yogi Berra Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Junior first baseman LOU POLITAN ( Livingston , NJ /Livingston) also drove in a pair of runs as the Red Hawks pounded out 15 hits in posting their second straight win. Montclair moved to 23-18 overall with the victory.

 Eric Ferguson ( Columbia/East Greenbush ) , Rob Raux (Illion / Frankfort , NY ) and Jason Firedman ( Whitney Young/Chicago, Ill. ) each connected for Ithaca , which fell to 24-12 in losing for the third time in its last five games.

Ithaca jumped on top 1-0 in the top of the first inning as Peters and Ferguson had back-to-back singles to open the game. After a strikeout, Raux grounded into a fielder's choice as the Bombers grabbed a 1-0 lead. Montclair would respond in its half of the inning with two runs to take a lead it would not relinquish. ANDREW HIMMELFARB ( Nyack , NY /Nyack)  singled with one out and eventually came around to score on an error tying the game. ROB BOWNESS ( Sparta , NJ /Seton Hall Prep) followed with an RBI single through the middle of the infield as the Red Hawks led 2-1.

KEVIN CUOZZI's ( Langhorne , PA /Neshaminy) RBI ground out extended the lead to 3-1, but Ithaca cut the lead back to 3-2 in the third as Ferguson homered to left-centerfield for his second of the year. Montclair would get that run back in the fourth on a Cuozzi RBI infield single and the Red Hawks extended the lead to 7-2 in the fifth scoring three times. ED KLOEPPING ( Pennsville , NJ /Penns Grove) had a sacrifice fly and Politan laced a double to left field driving two runs.

Ithaca crept back in the sixth inning on two long balls, the first by Raux, who cracked his third of the year and two batters later, Friedman hit his second as the Bombers got within, 7-4.   Miller added an RBI single in the sixth and Ithaca countered with a run-scoring fielder's choice by Smith in the seventh to make the score 8-6. Palestina's second home run widened MSU's lead to 9-6 and Montclair capped off the game with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Nunes opened the inning with his fourth home run and second in as many games. After a Himmelfarb double, Miller tripled down the right field line and ANDREW VICARO ( Randolph , NJ /Randolph) lofted a sacrifice to complete the scoring.  

Junior righthander TIM STRINGER ( Annandale , NJ /North Hunterdon) picked up the victory as he earned his third win of the year. Stringer (3-6) allowed five runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked two. Junior lefthander KEVIN DALTON ( Edison , NJ /Edison) came on in the seventh and recorded the final eight outs with four strikeouts to pick up his first save. Nick Sottung (Pulaski / Pulaski , NY ) took the loss to fall to 7-3           

Ferguson finished 3-for-5 for the Bombers while Nunes, Himmelfarb and Bowness each had two hits for Montclair State.

The teams finish out their weekend series on Sunday, May 13 with a 1:00 pm start at Yogi Berra Stadium.