Troy, NY - Montclair State University racked up 17 hits, including a pair of home runs, and the visiting Red Hawks held off a late rally by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for a 6-4 win in a non-league game at Robison Field.  MSU, which defeated Rensselaer 9-1 on Tuesday, improves to 14-11.  RPI, the 10th-ranked team in the nation, falls to 21-7.

Montclair State saw six players collect multiple hits, including each of its top five batters in the lineup.  Junior rightfielder SCOTT EVANGELIST (Northfield, NJ/Holy Spirit), the second place batter, had three hits and an RBI, while five others had two hits apiece.  Among them was sophomore catcher KEVIN BOND (Cedar Grove, NJ/Cedar Grove), the third place hitter who had a home run, two runs and a run batted in.

Bond put the visitors in front in the first inning with a long home run to centerfield but Rensselaer came right back to tie the score in its half of the stanza on a run-scoring groundout by sophomore rightfielder Nic Marchese (Tampa, FL/Chamberlain).

Montclair scored twice in the second inning on a two-run home run by freshman second baseman KEVIN MILLER (Bloomfield, NJ/Bloomfield) that fell just over the rightfield wall for a 3-1 advantage.  The Red Hawks then manufactured single runs in the fifth and sixth innings for a 5-1 lead before RPI plated its second run on an RBI double down the rightfield line by sophomore Mike Cziesko (Stevenson Ranch, CA/William S. Hart) in its half of the sixth inning.

An insurance run by the visitors in the eighth inning, thanks to an RBI single by Evangelist, made the score 6-2 heading into the ninth inning.  In the bottom of the frame, RPI loaded the bases with one out.  Marchese singled to left to score two runs but freshman ZACHARY BROWN (Green Village, NJ/Morristown) closed out the game with a strikeout for the save, his second of the season.

Red Hawks' starter JOHN MASKLEE (Totowa, NJ/Seton Hall Prep.) earned the win after pitching 5.2 innings.  He allowed eight hits, two runs and a walk with three strikeouts to improve to 3-3.  RPI starter Ryan Washburn (Gansevoort, NY/Schuylerville) took the loss after giving up three earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts.  He is now 5-3.

Rensselaer returns to action with a pair of doubleheaders against Liberty League foe Union on Saturday (1pm in Schenectady) and Sunday (noon in Troy).  MSU is right back on the field when it hosts NJAC opponent New Jersey City beginning at 3:30pm.