Galloway Township, NJ – Senior first baseman
CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS homered and drove in three runs while junior lefthander
MICHAEL MACCHIA tossed five scoreless innings out of the bullpen to help Montclair State gain a split with Stockton University in the New Jersey Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Saturday.
The Ospreys (8-5, 1-1 NJAC) captured the opener 7-1 before the Red Hawks (5-8, 1-1 NJAC) rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win the nightcap, 5-3.
Stockton scored three times in the third inning of the second game to build its lead. Stephen Struble had a sacrifice fly and RBI singles by Erik Danser and George Eisenhart put the Ospreys in front, 3-0. Montclair State would get two runs back in the top of the fourth.
MATT LONG singled and
CORY CORDASCO walked after Long swiped. After a fielder's choice, Reynolds stroked a double to left center scoring Cordasco and
KEITH MURPHY pulling the Red Hawks within 3-2.
Reynolds tied the game in the top of the seventh with a solo home run.
PHILIP SCOTT followed with a single and after a hit and sacrifice moved him to third,
KYLE BANYARD grounded out scoring Scott with the go-ahead run as MSU led 4-3.
Montclair would get an insurance run in the top of the eight. Long walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Two outs later he was at third base when Scott poked a single through the left side for a two-run Montclair State advantage.
The Ospreys would threaten in the bottom of the ninth as the first two baserunners reached on a single and error bringing in righthander
AUSTIN MINTON from the pen. A sacrifice bunt moved the tying runs into scoring position however Minton fanned the next two batters to nail down his first save of the year.
Macchia (2-0) picked up the win as he allowed just one hit in five innings, striking out three and walking two.
MICHAEL MANFRA started and went the first three frames allowing three runs and five hits with two strikeouts and a walk.
Reynolds and Scott had two hits apiece for Montclair State.
In the opener, Montclair was handcuffed by Ryan Adamski (2-0) who scattered six hits over eight innings.
JONATHAN TORREGROZA (2-2) took the loss for MSU as he went the first 6 2/3 innings.
Stockton took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Danser that scored Struble. MSU would knot the game in the sixth on an RBI ground out by Murphy however the Ospreys scored three times in the sixth to take the lead for good. Jaknkowski and Eisenhart each had RBIs as the Osprey lead went to 4-1.
Brett Solomen drove in two and Danser had an RBI single in the seventh to account for the final Stockton runs.
Reynolds had three of MSU's six hits in the game.
The Red Hawks return to action on Tuesday, March 31 as they head to Bethlehem, PA for a 3:30 pm matchup with Moravian College. The contest is a makeup of Thursday's rain out. MSU will then play its home opener at Yogi Berra Stadium on Wednesday, April 1 against Purchase College at 4:00 pm.
