Montclair, NJ – Senior
MATT LONG delivered the go-ahead run with a single in the bottom of the eighth as Montclair State scored twice in the inning for a 3-2 win over Rowan in the nightcap of their NJAC doubleheader at Yogi Berra Stadium on Saturday.
The Red Hawks bounced back from a 4-3 loss in the opener and now sit at 8-13 overall on the year, 2-3 in conference play. The split left Rowan at 17-9 on the season, 2-3 in conference play.
The Profs snapped a scoreless second game in the fifth inning with two runs. Monny Strickland tripled home Matt Jolly with the first run and Matt Edwards added an RBI single two batters later.
MSU would scratch across a run in the sixth to pull within 2-1.
RYAN LONG singled with one out and went to third when
RYAN THIEME singled back through the middle.
JOE FOOTE grounded to first allowing
RYAN LONG to come home with the Red Hawks' first run.
RYAN LONG began the winning rally in the eighth with a one-out single. An error allowed him to get to third and he scored on another RBI groundout by Foote tying the contest at 2-2. After
PHILIP SCOTT was hit by a pitch,
MATT LONG singled to right bringing home Thieme with the go-ahead run.
Reliever
TAYLOR PARSONS set down the Profs 1-2-3 in the ninth to nail down his second save, which made a winner out of righthander
CONNOR LINDSAY (3-2). Lindsay went the first eight innings allowing seven hits and two runs. He struck out two and walked one. Andrew Cohen (1-4) took the loss for Rowan.
The Long brothers accounted for five of MSU's eight hits in the game.
RYAN LONG was 3-for-4 with
MATT LONG going 2-for-4 at the plate.
In the first game,
RYAN LONG scored on wild pitch and Foote delivered an RBI single in the first giving Montclair an early 2-0 lead. The Profs tied the game with two runs in the fourth but a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning allowed Montclair to retake the lead 3-2.
The Profs tied the game again in the seventh on an RBI single by Jason Clapper, who then gave Rowan the lead in the top of the ninth with an RBI single up the middle.
Andrew Cartier (4-1) got the victory in relief as he threw six shutout innings after entering the fourth inning when starter Danny Serreino had to leave the game. Cartier allowed just two hits, struck out two and worked his way around four walks. Parsons (0-1) took the loss.
AUSTIN MINTON had a solid outing going the first eight innings giving up three runs (one earned) and seven hits. Minton struck out three and walked two.
JUSTIN EPIFANIO had two hits for the Red Hawks.
Montclair is back in action on Monday, April 10 at home against local rival William Paterson University at 3:30 pm. The Red Hawks will look to earn a split against the Pioneers having lost on Friday in Wayne, 7-1.
