WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? The Monmouth University baseball team dropped a pair of Northeast Conference contests to Central Connecticut State on Saturday afternoon, 11-6 and 8-5. The Hawks fall to 29-22 on the season and 15-10 in league play, while CCSU improves to 25-20 and 15-11 in the conference.
In the bottom of the seventh inning in the second game, Monmouth senior Paul Bottigliero hit a solo home run, his 17th of the season, eclipsing the single season mark of 16 previously held by Jay Law (2001). The Hawks, who have already clinched a berth in next weekend's NEC Tournament, wrap up their season-ending series with the Blue Devils on Sunday with a nine-inning affair. First pitch is set for 1:00 pm.
CCSU's Sean Parker got the afternoon's scoring started in the top of the second inning when he lifted a first pitch fastball from Monmouth starter Ryan Buch over the centerfield fence to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead, also plating Tommy Meade who singled to right. The junior righty got out of the inning after outlasting Central left fielder Casey Walko's 10-pitch at bat, inducing a grounder to short.
The Blue Devils added another two-run homer one frame later when Pat Epps connected on a drive over the left field fence, driving in Anthony Scialdone to put the visitor's up 4-0.
MU got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Bottigliero drove in David Jacob with a base loaded sacrifice fly. Ryan Terry advanced to third on the sac fly, and scored two pitches later on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 4-2. The Blue Devils struck for three runs in the fifth when Jay Schillaci cracked a three-run home run to left, plating Richie Tri and Epps, to boost their cushion to five runs.
The Hawks got back into the contest in the bottom half of the sixth when Bottigliero hit a three-run shot to right center. The dinger was his 16th home run of the season, tying him with Jay Law (2001) for the most homers in a single season in program history, to cut the lead to 7-5. He drove in Nick Pulsonetti and Chris Collazo, who reached on a single, extending his hitting streak to 12 games.
Central manufactured four runs on two hits in the top of the seventh to take an 11-5 lead. The Hawks added one more run in the bottom of the frame when Ryan Terry drove home Josh Boyd on a sacrifice fly.
Buch took the loss in the first game to fall to 7-4 on the season. He went 4.0 innings, giving up nine hits and seven runs, six of which were earned. Tim Ballard came on in relief to pitch the final 3.0 innings, surrendering four hits and four runs, two of which were earned.
Jacob went 2-for-4 for MU in the first game, while Bottigliero drove in four runs. The first five batters in Monmouth's order collected all six hits.
In the second game, CCSU put up two runs in the top half of the first on consecutive run-scoring base hits from Pat Epps and Jay Schillaci. The Blue Devils increased their advantage to 5-0 after Sean Parker delivered a double to the right center gap with the bases loaded, bringing all three runs around.
After Central tacked on three more runs to go up 8-0, MU got on the board in the bottom of the sixth when Collazo singled home Pulsonetti, extending his hit streak to 13 games. Jacob delivered the big hit of the inning when he drove home Bottigliero and Jamie Rosenkranz to cut the lead to 8-4.
MU starter Kyle Breese took the loss in the second game, falling to 5-3 on the season.
