EMMITSBURG, Md. ? The Monmouth University baseball team opened up Northeast Conference play with a 7-4 road victory at Mount St. Mary's on Thursday afternoon. The Hawks were supported by junior ace, Brad Brach (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township), as he earned the win with a complete game effort, throwing 145 pitches while striking out 11 along the way. The Hawks improve to 13-8-1 while the Mountaineers fall to 10-13 and 0-1 in NEC play on the year.

The Mount was threatening in the bottom of the ninth with one out when Brach forced Joe Hayes to fly to centerfielder Shawn Teters (Springdale, Ark./Springdale), who caught the ball, and dropped it on the transfer.  The Mount runners on second and third tagged up, yet Teters threw it in quickly to shortstop Kyle Higgins (Green Brook, N.J./Watchung Hills), who tagged out Ryan Murray who attempted to take second on the play.  The umpires ruled that Murrary did not retouch on the catch therefore no runs were allowed and the Blue & White escaped a late game rally with the victory. 

Brach improved to 3-1 on the season throwing the team's first complete game on the year, the seventh of his career, and tying a career-high with his 11 strikeouts.

MU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Kyle Messineo (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove) led off the game with a homerun to left field. Rick Niederhaus (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) helped light the scoreboard as he recorded two doubles, bringing in two RBI on the day.  Chris Collazo (Wall, N.J./Wall) also contributed to the Hawks 13 hits as he went 3-for-5 from the plate, scoring and driving in a run.

Higgins continued his hot-hitting, going 2-for-5 from the dish, while Mike Casale (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) hit his second home run of the season as he drove a shot over the right-centerfield fence.  

The Hawks return to action on Friday with a doubleheader against the Mountaineers. First pitch for game one is set for 12 pm, as freshman Ryan Buch looks to go 5-0 on the season. 

Pictured: Junior Brad Brach