Mahwah, NJ – Junior first baseman
SCOTT EVANGELIST (Northfield, NJ / Holy Spirit) belted a pair of home runs and finished the day with four RBI as Montclair State earned a split of a New Jersey Athletic Conference doubleheader on Sunday. The Red Hawks dropped the opener to Ramapo, 15-8 but rebounded in the second game for an 8-2 victory as they improved to 10-10 overall, 4-2 in the conference.
Sophomore
JAY BIONDE (Pompton Plains, NJ) singled to lead off the inning before Evangelist ripped a home run to dead center field to put the Red Hawks up 2-0. Ramapo scored three in the bottom half of the inning when junior Pete Sita (Bayonne, NJ) singled home senior Gino Gallagher (Cedar Grove, NJ) before a Montclair error allowed Sita and junior Joey Cacchiola (Union, NJ) to cross the plate to take a 3-2 lead. The Roadrunners would score three more runs in the second inning; Cacchiola tripled down the right field line to pick up two RBI, Gallagher and senior David Deredita (Clark, NJ) both scored. Senior Mike Manges (Glen Rock, NJ) recorded a ground out to second base to plate Cacchiola.
The Red Hawks got two back in the third on RBI singles by
MATT HARTWICK (Ringwood, NJ) and Zach Brown (Green Village, NJ) before Ramapo added two more in the bottom half of the inning. Sophomore Rob Dimperio (Jackson, NJ) tripled to left center field to score senior Tim Gaven (Union, NJ), Dimperio scored on the play when the throw from the outfield was misplayed to put the Roadrunners ahead, 8-4. Montclair and Ramapo traded runs in the fourth and fifth innings before Ramapo broke open the game in the eighth inning with six runs on three hits and two Red Hawk errors.
Gallagher walked and Cacchiola reached on an error before Sita singled to left field to pick up the RBI. Manges was hit by a pitch to load the bases before rookie Joseph Della Serra (Cranford, NJ) lined a single into center field allowing Sita and Cacchiola to score. Dimperio singled to right field plating Manges before a Red Hawk error allowed two runs to score when Deredita's hit was misplayed to go up 15-7. The Red Hawks scored on more in the ninth when Mike Boggi (Towaco, NJ / Montville) walked to lead off the inning and came around to score on
ADAM BERGMAN's double to right field, 15-8.
Sophomore pitcher Tim Hannes (Allendale, NJ) raised his record to 2-1 on the year when he worked 3.2 innings while only surrendering one run with four strike outs. Junior pitcher
JOHN MASKLEE (Totowa, NJ) took the loss for Montclair falling to 6-3, he struck out one while giving up seven hits and eight hits while only four were earned.
Montclair bounced back in game two, handing the Roadrunners an 8-2 loss. The Red Hawks pounded out 15 hits to score eight runs while limiting Ramapo to only four hits in the game.
Montclair took the lead in the second inning whenBoggi hit a solo home run to left center field before sophomore
MIKE ERCOLANO (Vernon, NJ) and sophomore
MICKEY MCGRAW (Morristown, NJ) each scored on two separate Ramapo error's in the inning to go up 3-0.
Ramapo tacked on runs in the second and third innings to come within one run. Dimperio singled home Manges who walked earlier in the second inning and Sita knocked in rookie Kevin Knox (Matawan, NJ) who reach base on an error in the third with a single to right field to cut the lead 3-2.
Montclair scored again in the fourth, sixth and ninth innings to pull ahead 8-2. In the fourth Brown doubled to left field to lead off the inning before being sacrificed to third base and later scored on an error. Bionde scored later in the inning when Bond knocked him in with a single for a 5-2 lead. They posted another run in the sixth as Brown again doubled to lead off the inning and came home on rookie
KEVIN MILLER's (Bloomfield, NJ) line drive single. The Red Hawks tacked on two more in the ninth as Boggi tripled to center field and was knocked in by Ercolano's sacrifice fly to right field before McGraw doubled and rookie
ADAM BERGMAN (Berkeley Heights, NJ) picked up the RBI with a single to left field.
For the Red Hawks, Boggi was 3-5 with two runs scored and one RBI, he was also one single away from hitting for the cycle. Junior
MICHAEL VITALE (Bayonne, NJ) picked up his second win as he nearly went the distance, pitching eight complete innings, striking out five and surrendering only four hits and two runs score (one earned).
For Ramapo, junior Michael Murano (Brick, NJ) took the loss, falling to 1-1 on the year, he recorded five strike outs and did not walk a batter over 3.1 innings pitched. He gave up seven hits and five runs, one earned.
The Red Hawks return to action on Tuesday, April 7 as they host Eastern Connecticut State at Yogi Berra Stadium beginning at 4:00 pm.
