Auburndale, FL – Senior lefthander MICHAEL MACCHIA tossed eight solid innings and Montclair State held off a furious rally by Husson University in the ninth as the Red Hawks snapped four-game skid with a 7-6 win in the RussMatt Invitational on Thursday afternoon.

Sophomore second baseman JOE FOOTE had three hits and drove in a run as the Red Hawks got back to the .500 mark at 4-4 on the year. IAN LYNCH, DOM LAMPASONA and JACOB REEDER each collected two hits.

Montclair scored the first second runs of the game, including three in the bottom of the second inning. JOHN TEDESCO brought home the first run with a single and Reeder scored on error for a 2-0 lead before a second error by the Eagles in the inning allowed Reeder to cross the plate.

MSU added four more runs in the third. Lampasona tripled home IAN LYNCH and Reeder's RBI single score Lampasona for a 5-0 advantage. KEITH MURPHY added an RBI double with Foote closing out the scoring on an infield hit that plated Tedesco giving the Red Hawks the 7-0 advantage.

Macchia (1-0) went the first eight innings and allowed just an unearned run and five hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

But Husson did not go quietly in the ninth. In fact the Eagles nearly tied the game scoring five times in their last at bat. Luke Covey scored the first run on a passed ball and Dan Whitney singled home Darik Messier making the score 7-3. Julien Boone later blasted a three-run homer to bring Husson within a run.  However reliever MAX MAARLEVELD got the next hitter to line out to end the game.

The Red Hawks continue action in the RussMatt Invitational on Friday, March 11 with an 11:00 am contest against Suffolk University.