Camden, NJ – The Montclair State baseball team closed out the regular season with a sweep of Rutgers Camden Saturday.
They notched a 13-7 win in the opener before finishing the day with an 8-4 triumph. Montclair State claimed the No.2 seed in next week's NJAC Tournament with the two victories. The Red Hawks finish the regular season with a 30-9 overall record and a 15-3 mark in the NJAC. The 30 wins are the most in a season since 2006, and the 15-3 NJAC record is the best mark since going 17-1 in 2001.
The Red Hawks opened the scoring with a pair in the first inning.
JOE NORTON,
PETER COSENTINO, and
MILES FEASTER notched consecutive singles, with Feaster's bringing Norton home. After an out,
ANDREW OLLWERTHER came up and drove Cosentino in with a knock to left. After the Red Hawks tacked an additional run on a Cosentino run-scoring single in the second, the Scarlet Raptors scored four in the home half of the inning. The big blow was a two-run single to right from Francisco Andino.
The Red Hawks erupted for seven runs on nine hits in the top of the fourth, scoring all seven tallies with one out. Norton started the rally and moved to third on a double by Cosentino. Feaster,
MICHAEL MURPHY, and Ollwerther notched RBI singles before
ANTHONY GUARINO laced a two-run double to the wall in left-center. After a pitching change,
JASON MOORE dropped a single to right-center, and
JORDEN JURKIEWICZ finished off the scoring with a double to left field.
The Scarlet Raptors battled back with two of their own in the bottom half of the fourth, but reliever
NICHOLAS SEFICK settled down and gave the Red Hawks some relief, throwing four and a third scoreless frames. Scarlet Raptors reliever Jacob Brennan also cooled down the Red Hawks bats for three innings before MSU notched a single run in the top of the eighth. Guarino doubled down the right-field line before Jurkiewicz launched a double off the protective netting in right, plating Guarino.
JACK HAVESON, who entered with one out in the eighth, set the Scarlet Raptors down in order in the ninth to preserve the victory.
Sefick and Haveson combined for six innings of scoreless relief, surrendering four hits and three strikeouts. Norton was 4-for-6 while Cosentino, Feaster, Ollwerther, and Guarino collected three hits apiece. Ollwerther and Guarino combined for six RBI in the triumph.
Montclair State wasted little time scoring in game two as Cosentino launched a one-out homer to left-center. The visitors doubled their advantage with Jurkiewicz homering to the right-center field in the second. Rutgers Camden took their first lead in the nightcap with three runs in the bottom of the third. All three tallies came across with two outs, including a two-run single from Jake Guglielmi.
The Red Hawks pulled level at three in the fourth, as
JASON MOORE lofted a sacrifice fly to centerfield that allowed Murphy to score. Murphy had led off the frame with a single back through the box. The back-and-forth battle waged with MSU tacking on two scores in the sixth. After leading off with a single, Feaster scooted home on a wild pitch before Guarino doubled Murphy home with a shot down the line.
Montclair State loaded the bags in the seventh, as Cosentino reached on an error before Feaster singled and a pitch hit Murphy. Ollwerther doubled to left-center, allowing Cosentino and Feaster to score. A wild pitch allowed Murphy to cross the plate to finish the seventh inning scoring.
BRIAN REISS ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with no outs. After recording a strikeout looking, Reiss induced a 5-4-3 double-play to finish off the seventh. The Scarlet Raptors got a run back in the eighth, scoring first on a single back through the box from Garrett Warner. Reliever
DARREN GONZALEZ entered and recorded a flyout to center a groundout to third to prevent any further scoring.
Reiss struck out five to earn the win, while Murphy and Guarino notched two hits each.
The Red Hawks will host fifth-seeded The College of New Jersey in the First Round of the NJAC Tournament at Yogi Berra Stadium on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 pm.
