Kissimmee, FL – Sophomore righthanders KIARA RUIZ and VALENTINA CUCCI combined on a seven-hit shutout as Montclair State split its two contests at the Sunkissed Games on Thursday afternoon. The Red Hawks (6-2) blanked Defiance College 4-0 before falling to Baldwin Wallace, 6-1.

MSU finishes off its trip on Friday, March 9 with its final two games. The Red Hawks face Illinois College at 9:00 am before facing Alfred University at 11:15 am.

Ruiz improved to 3-0 on the season as she went the first five innings allowing five hits before Cucci came on in the sixth with two runners on and no outs. She retired the next three hitters and tossed a scoreless seventh to earn her second save of the year.

Montclair would get on the board in the third inning. VICTORIA GEHRING singled with one out and an infield single by ALANA LUNA put runners at second and third with one out. The runners moved up on a double steal and after a fly out, GABBY SLADE singled in the infield allowing Gehring to score with the game's first run.

The Red Hawks added three more runs in the fourth. NOEL HODGINS and ELENA RADESICH opened the inning with base hits. Moving up on sacrifice, Hodgins scored on a double by BLAKE SAPERSTEIN. Gehring followed with a two-run single for a 4-0 MSU lead.

Defiance threatened in the sixth putting the first two runners on via a hit batter and single. Cucci came on and fanned the first hitter she faced before getting out of the jam with a fly out and force play at third.

Hodgins and Gehring had two hits each as MSU registered nine in the game.

Montclair's second meeting with Baldwin Wallace would not turn out as good as the first one when the Red Hawks recorded a 4-3, eight-inning win on Monday. This time around, the Yellowjackets (4-5) scored twice in the first inning and added four more in the third for a 6-0 lead.

AMBER POWERS broke up the shutout bid in the sixth with an RBI single that scored sister KAYLEE POWERS. NICOLE MAJEWSKI (2-1) took the loss for the Red Hawks.