LaPlume, PA – The Montclair State baseball team suffered its first loss of the season as the Red Hawks fell to Keystone College, 8-6 at Christy Matthewson Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Second baseman
ERIC HAVNER went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI for the Red Hawks (4-1), who held an early 4-0. Lead.
ANTHONY GUARINO had two hits while
JOE NORTON was 2-for-5 with a run batted in.
MSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Norton and
HAYDEN REYES led off the game with back-to-back walks. A double play moved Norton to third, and, after a walk to
ANDREW OLLWERTHER,
MICHAEL MURPHY smacked a run-scoring single for the first run.
Montclair added a run in the second on a walk to
PETER COSENTINO with the bags full forcing in Havner, who kept the inning going with a two-out double. He doubled home two more in the third making the score, 4-0.
Keystone got a run back in its half of the third and made it a two-run game in the fifth. Pedro Abreu tied it up in at 4-4 the sixth with a pinch-hit, two-run homer. The Giants took the lead in the seventh scoring four times. Chris Hadsal led off with a double and scored on an Adam Kelly RBI single. Keystone would load the bases and push across a run on free pass to RJ Gouldsbur. Devin Reed doubled plating two more as the Giants led 8-4.
MSU answered in the eighth with an RBI double by Norton, however reliever Austin Norto was able to keep the game at 8-5 as he got the final out of the eighth. In the ninth, Montclair loaded the bases with two outs and scored once as Murphy scampered home on a wild pitch. But closer Logan Lixie was able to get a fly ball out to end the game.
Derek Quint, one of six Giants pitchers in the game, earned the victory with scoreless seventh inning in his relief stint. Righthander
CHRIS LUM took the loss for MSU.
The Red Hawks will next be in action on Friday, March 26 at home for the first time this season. MSU will host New Jersey City University in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 3:00 pm. The following day, Montclair welcomes Stockton University the next day for a twinbill also at 3:00 pm.
