Little Falls, NJ – Sophomore centerfielder MICHAEL BOGGI (Towaco, NJ / Montville) dropped in a single to score SCOTT EVANGELIST (Northfield, NJ / Holy Spirit) from third base in the bottom of the ninth inning as Montclair State slipped past Ithaca College, 5-4 at Yogi Berra Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Boggi finished 3-for-5 and drove in two runs as the Red Hawks (26-17) rallied back from a 4-1 deficit to gain a split with the Bombers in their weekend series. Montclair's victory marked the fourth straight one-run contest between the teams the past two seasons.

Senior centerfielder Matt Samela (Westport, CT / Staples) was 3-for-5 with an RBI for Ithaca, which fell to 29-7 losing for just the second time in the last 10 games.

Both teams will now wait to for the selections for the NCAA Division III Tournament field, which will be announced on Monday, May 11. Montclair, ranked second in the latest Mid-Atlantic rankings, will be among the Pool C "at-large" teams while the Bombers are a Pool B candidate. Ithaca was third in the last New York region rankings.

Evangelist reached on an infield error and was sacrificed to second by KEVIN BOND (Cedar Grove, NJ / Cedar Grove). Ithaca then elected to intentionally walk ED KLOEPPING (Pennsville, NJ / Pennsville). But on the first pitch, reliever Dan Lynch (East Amherst, NY / Williamsville South) uncorked a wild pitch allowing Evangelist to go to third. That proved to be big as after the walk to Kloepping, Boggi stepped in and popped up a 2-1 pitch into shallow centerfield. The ball would get caught up in the wind and fell in between two fielders allowing Evangelist to race home with the game-winning run.

The run made a winner out of lefthander JOHN MASKLEE (Totowa, NJ / Seton Hall Prep), who improved to 5-4. Masklee pitched the eighth and ninth innings allowing two hits and striking out four. Lynch fell to 5-3 with the loss.

Samela manufactured Ithaca's first run in the top of the first as he singled to lead off the game and went to second on a ground ball. He would steal third and score on a wild pitch as the Bombers led 1-0.

Samela would account for the second runs with a RBI single in the fifth and Trevor Wolf's (Freeville, NY / Lansing) run-scoring ground out in the sixth gave Ithaca a 3-0 lead. Montclair would get a run back in its half of the sixth on an RBI double by Boggi, but the Bombers extended the lead back to 4-1 in the seventh as Kurt Bednarcayk (Fairport, NY / Fairport) singled through the left side scoring Conor Thompson (Syracuse, NY / West Genessee).

The Red Hawks cut the lead back to 4-2 in the seventh as MIKE ERCOLANO (Vernon, NJ / Vernon) doubled down the right field line to score MATT HARTWICK (Ringwood, NJ / Lakeland). MSU then tied the game in the eighth. Kloepping reached on a fielder's choice and went to third as Boggi smacked a double to left field. Kloepping would score on a wild pitch and JAY BIONDE (Pompton Plains, NJ / Pequannock) drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at 4-4.

Bednarczyk was 2-for-5 for Ithaca while Kloepping finished 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored.