Auburndale, FL – The Montclair State baseball team split its opening games at the RussMatt Invitational on Sunday as the Red Hawks captured the second game of their doubleheader with Westminster College (PA).
The Titans (1-1) won a slugfest in the opener 21-11 before the Red Hawks (3-1) came back to post a 12-2 victory in the nightcap. It was the first two contests of a scheduled six-game road trip for Montclair which face Keystone College on Monday, March 11 at 2:00 pm.
Westminster scored five times in the bottom of the second inning to grab a 5-0 lead before the Red Hawks answered with five runs in the top of the third.
ANDREW OLLWERTHER brought home the first run with a single and
CHRISTOPHER WALKER delivered two more with a two-run double.
JASON MOORE made it a one-run game with a single through the left side before
JUSTIN BATES knotted the game at 5-5 with an RBI double.
The Titans however blew the game open in its half of the third scoring six times and added eight more in the fourth for an 18-5 advantage.
HAYDEN REYES collected a two-run single in the fifth with
MATTHEW FITZSIMMONS adding two more in a four-run seventh on a double to left center.
Reyes finished 3-for-4 for MSU, which collected 15 hits. Ollwerther and Bates had two hits apiece. Lefthander
BRIAN REISS (0-1) took the loss for MSU.
In the second game, Montclair trailed 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth before exploding for 10 runs. It is the third time in four games that the Red Hawks put a double-digit scoring inning on the board.
DANIEL CLEMENTE scored the first run on a wild pitch for the first run and MSU took the lead as
NICK MARTINEZ plated two runs with a double down the left field line.
KYLE FORCINI followed with a two-run single and later scored on a wild pitch making the score 6-2. Dominick Leuizzi singled home a run before
PETER COSENTINO delivered the big blow with a three-run homer for a 10-2 lead.
Freshman rightnader
TYLER DIEFENBACH picked up his first collegiate victory as he went the first six innings allowing four hits and two runs, one earned. He struck out five and did not walk a batter.
Reyes was 3-for-3 while Leuizzi, Cosentino, Clemente and
MATTHEW MANNING all had two hits.
