Baseball | 5/1/2016 8:10:00 PM

Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State baseball and lacrosse teams are ready for the postseason which brings a lot of familiarity when the teams open up their conference tournaments on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Tickets for all events will be $5 for general admission and $2 for students, children and seniors.

Baseball kicks off the action on Tuesday, May 3 with the opening round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship at 3:30 pm. The Red Hawks (20-18), the No. 5 seed, head to Ewing and Ackerman Park to face second-seeded The College of New Jersey, the same place MSU ended its regular-season on Saturday.  Montclair fell to the Lions 10-2 in the first and 3-2 in extra innings as TCNJ erased a two-run lead in the ninth.

One of the oldest rivalries in Montclair State history that dates back to 1929, the Red Hawks and Lions will meet on the diamond for the 183^rd time on Tuesday (MSU leads the all-time series 105-75-2). That includes 19 meetings in the NJAC Tournament where TCNJ holds the slight edge, 10-9. Among those are four championship game contests, some of which came in the most dramatic of fashions.

MSU and TCNJ met in the first NJAC Tournament title game in 1990 at Pittser Field with the Red Hawks winning 7-6 on a game-winning single by Dom DiGirolamo in the bottom of the 10^th inning after the Lions had tied the game in the top. Montclair would claim the 1994 NJAC crown at Ackerman Park and then beat TCNJ 10-2 at Yogi Berra Stadium in 2001, the Red Hawks last conference championship. In 2006, Montclair led 9-7 in the bottom of the ninth at Campbell's Field in Camden, NJ and was three outs away from the championship before the Lions' Gerard Haran belted a walk-off grand slam for the title.

The latest meeting between the teams, who have split their last six contests against each other overall, came in 2011 at Ackerman Park in a 7-6 Montclair State victory. Reliever Zach Brown retired the final three hitters after TCNJ put the first two runners on in the ninth inning.

Wednesday showcases both lacrosse teams in two different tournaments.  The MSU men host local rival Kean in the semifinals of the Skyline Conference Tournament at Sprague Field beginning at 6:00 pm. One hour later, the Red Hawk women, seeded third, take on second-seeded Rowan in Glassboro in the semifinals of the NJAC Tournament.

The top-seeded men are looking to extend their streak of Skyline titles to eight when they meet Kean for the second time this season. Montclair registered a 14-7 win over the Cougars in Union back on April 20.

It will be the seventh time the two schools will square off in the Skyline Tournament since 2008 but the first time it will be in a semifinal matchup. Kean won the first meeting in 2008 scoring the final two goals in stunning fashion for an 8-7 win at Sprague Field. The next year the Red Hawks began their run of Skyline championships with a 7-6 win as All-America goalkeeper made knocked away a shot in the final seconds.

The Red Hawks and Cougars would meet again in 2010 and again in 2012, 2013 and 2014, the latter game a 17-4 victory. Current senior ZACH SCHRECK scored three times in the opening period as Montclair put the first eight goals on the board and led 11-1 at halftime.

Montclair State holds a 40-15 lead in the all-time series that also includes five meetings in ECAC Tournament play. MSU defeated Kean in the 1989 championship to cap off a perfect 15-0 season. The Cougars won the next two in 1990 and 1991 before MSU picked up a 12-10 win in the 1992 semifinals. Kean defeated Montclair 19-9 in the 1995 Championship.

For the Montclair State women's team, the Red Hawks are hoping a trend continues but this time in their favor as Wednesday's meeting with Rowan will mark the third consecutive year that the two will meet in the semifinals.

In 2014 and 2015, MSU won the regular-season meeting which earned them the home game at Sprague Field against the Profs. However each time, Rowan won the second time around, including a 12-11 win last season. This year, Rowan claimed a 13-10 win in Glassboro.