Little Falls, NJ – Ithaca College jumped out to a four-run lead then held off a rally by Montclair State in the latter innings as the Bombers captured a 4-3 victory at Yogi Berra Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

SCOTT EVANGELIST, KEVIN BOND and ED KLOEPPING each had three hits and an RBI for the Red Hawks (25-17) who dropped the first of the two-game series. The two teams meet again on Sunday.

Trailing 3-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Montclair State closed the gap scoring three times. Jason Lopes left off with a double and, after two outs, Evangelist doubled down the left-field line making the score 3-1. An infield single by Bond plated Zach Brown with Kloepping's RBI single pulling MSU within a run at 4-3. MSU loaded the bases on a catcher's interference however Ithaca escaped on a ground out to end the inning.

Kloppeing singled in the ninth with two outs to get the tying run aboard for Montclair State, but Boggi lined out to third to end the game.

Right-hander MICHAEL STREAMAN (6-2) took the loss for the Red Hawks despite a solid outing. Streaman allowed three runs (one earned) and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two.
Lopez added two hits for MSU.