Jersey City, NJ – Centerfielder
MICHAEL BOGGI homered and drove in three runs while
JOSEPH ZEMBRYSKI had two hits and three RBI as Montclair State won its third straight beating New Jersey City, 12-8 at the Thomas M. Gerrity Complex on Friday afternoon.
SCOTT EVANGELIST and
JAY BIONDE each collected two hits and a run batted in as the Red Hawks (20-13) stayed in the hunt for a Top 3 seed in next week's NJAC Tournament. Montclair, which swept the season series from the Gothic Knights, are 11-5 with league play.
MSU will face Rowan University in Glassboro on Saturday, April 25 at 11:30 am with the first of their two scheduled contests.
Montclair State would get on the board in the third inning with a two runs. Bionde led off the inning, smacking a 3-2 pitch down the left field line for a solo homer and the game's first run.
MICKEY MCGRAW singled and went to second on a one out walk before scoring on a single through the left side by Boggi.
The Red Hawks exploded for six run in the fourth to take an 8-0 lead.
ZACHARY BROWN scored on error and an RBI single by
SCOTT EVANGELIST extended the lead to 4-0.
MIKE ERCOLANO later lofted a sacrifice fly before Boggi launched a two-run homer to left.
JASON LOPEZ accounted for the final run with a run-scoring double bringing home
MATT HARTWICK.
Zembryski's two-run double in the fifth pushed the lead to 10-0 before NJCU got on the board in the bottom of the inning with three runs on a pair of home runs.
Zembryski got a run back for MSU in the seventh with single, however the Gothic Knights answered with a five-run bottom half, pulling within 11-8.
SAM POLITAN plated the final Montclair run in the ninth on a ground out.
Lefthander
NICK RECCHIA (3-1) took advantage of the early run support to record the win. Recchia allowed three runs and seven hits in 5.1 innings, striking out eight and walking two. Lefty
SEAN HILLE fanned three over the final two innings to record his first save of the year.
McGraw,
KEVIN BOND and Evangelist had two hits apiece for Montclair State, which pounded out 19 in the contest.