Washington D.C., - Junior right fielder ANDREW OLLWERTHER collected five hits, a home run, and drove in seven as Montclair State opened its 2020 season with a doubleheader sweep of Catholic University on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Hawks (2-0) downed the Cardinals (1-2) 7-1 in the opener before posting a 5-2 victory in the second game to give new head coach Dave Lorber two wins in his debut. The two teams finish off their weekend series on Sunday, February 23, with a single contest beginning at 1:00 pm.
GAME 1
In the opener, Ollwerther and CHRISTOPHER WALKER each belted home runs during a five-run seventh inning that all but put the game away for the Red Hawks. All the scoring for MSU came with two outs.
Walker brought home two of those, blasting an 0-1 pitch over the left-center fence extending the lead to 4-1. Catcher JUSTIN BATES walked to keep the inning going, and MICHAEL SCHWEYHER singled to put runners at first and second. Ollwerther followed with a three-run homer, increasing Montclair's advantage to 7-1.
Catholic didn't go away as it loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with no one out. But righthander CHRIS LUM came out of the pen and struck out the side to end the contest.
Montclair got on the board in the second inning. Walker singled through the right side with one out, and JUSTIN BATES walked. A ground out moved the runners up a base with Walker coming home on Ollwerther's infield single.
MSU added to the lead in the top of the sixth as Ollwerther delivered again with a single through the left side, scoring Bates, who reached on a one-out error. Catholic cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Connor Cozad making the score 2-1.
Righthander MATTHEW MINCIELI (1-0) earned the victory as he allowed two hits and struck out three in his season debut. Walker (2-for-4) and Ollwerther (3-for-5) accounted for five of MSU's nine hits in the contest.
GAME 2
The Red Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, taking advantage of a pair of Catholic miscues. BRAD EDWARDS reached on a fielding error to open the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch. A ground out got him over to third before a balk sent Edwards home with the game's first run.
Catholic tied the game in the bottom of the third however, Montclair went back on top in the fourth. Edwards led off with a single through the middle, went to second on a passed ball and third on a comebacker to the mound. Ollwerther grounded to short scoring Edwards for a 2-1 MSU advantage.
Ollwerther's RBI single in the sixth extended the lead to 3-1, and an RBI single in the seventh by Myles Feaster gave the Red Hawks a three-run cushion. Shortstop HAYDEN REYES squeezed in the final MSU run in the eighth, making the score 5-1. The Cardinals got a run back in the eighth and were threatening in the ninth when the game was called due to darkness.
Righthander TYLER HIGGINS earned the victory in relief, striking out two in 1 2/3 innings. Freshman PATRICK CUCCURULLO fanned six and allowed four hits and a run over 4 1/3 innings of his collegiate debut. Ollwerther recorded two hits.
