Little Falls, NJ – Senior lefthander KEVIN DALTON (Edison, NJ / Edison) threw eight scoreless innings while Montclair State pounded out 16 hits as the Red Hawks recorded their second straight win with an 8-1 victory over third-ranked and defending NCAA Division III champion Kean University in the New Jersey Athletic Conference opener for both teams at Yogi Berra Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

Senior first baseman LOU POLITAN (Livingston, NJ / Livingston) had three hits while Joe Zembryski (Rutherford, NJ / St. Peter's Prep) drove in a pair of run as Montclair State (1-0 NJAC) moved to 6-7 on the season.

Senior designated hitter Dan Mattonelli ( Hamilton, NJ / Steinert) went 2-for-2 for Kean, which suffered just its third loss in the last 17 games. The Cougars (0-1 NJAC) are now 16-4.

 Montclair State took a 2-0 lead in the second as STEPHEN PISCITELLO (Hauppague, NY / Hauppague) reached on an error to start the inning and JEFF MILLER (Wyckoff, NJ / Ramapo) followed with another base hit before Rob Clark (Livingston, NJ / Seton Hall Prep) smacked a single into left field scoring Piscitello with the game's first run. After a flyout, ANDREW HIMMELFARB ( Nyack, NY / Nyack) singled to center bringing home Miller for the two-run MSU advantage.

MSU would tack on a run in the third to increase its lead. ED KLOEPPING ( Pennsville, NJ / Pennsville) drew a one-out walk, and moved to third as Kean committed an error on the force out attempt at second base. Miller then lofted a sacrifice fly. The Red Hawks pushed the lead to 4-0 in the fifth as Kloepping led off with a single to left field. The Cougars would get the next two outs, but Clark registered his second hit of the game to keep the inning going and KEVIN CUOZZI (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) followed with a single to center to drive in Kloepping.

The Red Hawks broke the game open in the sixth as the first six batters all reached on hits. MICHAEL NUNES ( Hazlet, NJ / Raritan) had an infield single to start and ROB BOWNESS ( Sparta, NJ / Seton Hall Prep) singled to put runners at the corners. Politan lined a single to left to give MSU a 5-0 lead and Zembryski added a pinch-hit double to centerfield to drive home two as Montclair built a seven-run cushion. Piscitello capped off the scoring with an RBI double down the left field line.

The rest was left up to Dalton, who moved to 3-0 this season. Dalton gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked just one. Senior righthander Colin Feneis ( Spotswood, NJ / Spotswood) took the loss as he surrendered five runs (three earned) and 10 hits in five innings. Feneis (1-2) fanned three and issued one walk.

 Nunes, Bowness Clark and Miller each had two hits for the Red Hawks.

 Montclair State returns to action on Saturday, March 29 as the Red Hawks travel to Camden, NJ for an NJAC doubleheader with Rutgers-Camden at Campbell's Field beginning at 12:00 pm.