Montclair, NJ – Senior righthander Lou Pimpinella pitched into the ninth inning before fellow senior Anthony Aliteri closed out the contest as Montclair State earned a split of its NJAC doubleheader with The College of New Jersey on Saturday at Yogi Berra Stadium.

The Red Hawks bounced back from a 6-5, 13-inning loss in the opener for a 7-2 victory in the second contest as it wrapped up the No. 5 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Montclair (17-16, 10-8 NJAC) will face No. 2 seeded Kean University in the opening round on Tuesday, April 28 in Union.

It will be the second straight season and third time in the third time in the last five years the Red Hawks and Cougars will open up the NJAC Tournament against one another. Kean has won the previous two meetings, 3-1 in 2011 and 5-0 last year.

Pimpinella, one of six seniors honored before the start of the doubleheader, picked up his first win of the season (1-1) as he scattered nine hits, striking out five and giving up two runs before Altieri finished off the game retiring three of the four hitters he faced.

Montclair jumped on the Lions in the first inning with six runs in the first innings. PHILIP SCOTT reached on an error to lead off the inning and RYAN LONG walked. MATT LONG followed with a double to right field scoring both runners for the 2-0 lead. CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS followed with a base hit scoring long and the Red Hawks added two more on an error before a sacrifice fly by HECTOR GONZALEZ capped the inning for MSU.

TCNJ was able to get back into the game in the fourth. Garen Turner singled to open the inning and scored as Mike Murray lined a triple putting the Lions on the board. Alex Christian followed with a ground out as the Lions cut the lead to 6-2.

Pimpinella would retire eight in a row from that point until John Rizzi doubled with two outs in the seventh. He got a fly out to end that inning and then escaped the eighth as Long snared a line drive turning it into a double play to end the inning.

The Red Hawks added one more run in the seventh on an RBI triple by Scott.

Reynolds had two hits for MSU while Josh Limon and Ben Varone had two hits apiece for TCNJ, which out hit Montclair State 10-6 in the contest. Matt Curry took the loss as he fell to 0-2. Currey allowed seven runs (three earned) and six hits in seven innings.

A day after going 12 innings in a win at Rutgers-Camden, Montclair found itself in another long, grueling extra-inning contest only to come up short as Rizzi delivered the game-winning RBI in the top of the 13^th to help TCNJ (16-16, 9-9 NJAC) clinch a playoff spot.

Varone reached on a fielding error in the top of the 13^th and stole second before moving to third on a sacrifice by Steve Bucci. Rizzi then singled into right field for the 6-5 lead. Montclair threatened to tie the game in the bottom half as Gonzalez walked with one out, stole second and went to third on a ground out. But reliever Eric Teesdale got a ground out to first to end the game.

Montclair State took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by RICH BURNER and a bases-loaded walk to MIKE TOLERICO. A sacrifice fly by MATT LONG in the second gave the Red Hawks a three-run advantage before the Lions answered with two runs in the fourth. Mike Murray and Varone each singled home a run.

MATT LONG pushed the lead to 4-2 in the fourth with an RBI ground out however an error on a steal of third and RBI single by Limon in the fifth helped TCNJ tie the game at 4-4. An error allowed Gonzalez to put MSU back in front in the sixth but the Red Hawks gave that back in the eighth as Murray scampered home on an infield error by the Red Hawks knotting the contest at 5-5.

Teesdale got the win in reliever as he went the final four innings. Freshman reliever AUSTIN MINTON (2-3) took the loss as he worked the last two innings for MSU. TAYLOR PARSONS threw 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Red Hawks with a pair of strikeouts.

Burner and Gonzalez had three hits each for Montclair State.