Port Charlotte, FL – The Montclair State baseball suffered their second straight loss on Monday with a heartbreaking 7-6 defeat against Heidelberg University in 10 innings at the Snowbird Classic.
KEITH MURPHY drove in three runs while
CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS added a pair of RBI however the Red Hawks (0-2) could not hold on to a 6-0 lead as Heidelberg scored all seven runs over the final four innings of the contest.
The loss spoiled a solid outing by sophomore righthander
DONALD CUSICK who recorded the first 20 outs (6 2/3 innings) of the game allowing a run and four hits. Cusick struck out six and did not walk a batter.
ANTHONY DEBLASIO (0-1) took the loss as he allowed the winning run in the bottom of the 10
th innings.
Montclair jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of third inning.
ANTHONY ALTIERI walked with one out and
RYAN LONG and
KEVIN ALONSO followed with back-to-back singles loading the bases. Murphy plated Altieri with a ground out and Reynolds' infield hit got Long home giving the Red Hawks the two-run lead.
HECTOR GONZALEZ extended that lead in the fourth with an RBI single and a two-run single by Murphy in the seventh pushed the lead to 5-0. A sacrifice fly by Reynolds accounted for final MSU run.
Heidelberg began its comeback in the bottom of the inning as Christian Verde belted a solo home run with two outs. They would add two more runs in the eighth and collect three more in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 6-6. Alex Grove knotted the game up when he scampered home from third on a wild pitch.
After Montclair stranded a runner in the top of the 10
th, Heidelberg strung together the winning run quickly as Steven Morse led off the inning with a double to left center. Pinch-runner Doug Miller immediately went to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored as Verde singled back through the middle.
Long finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored for MSU while Gonzalez collected two hits.
MSU will look to break through in to the win column on Tuesday, March 10 as it faces Baldwin Wallace at 3:00 pm.