WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University baseball team swept a Northeast Conference doubleheader from visiting Mount St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon. With the victories, Monmouth improved to 9-13 overall and 5-5 in the league. MSM, which entered the weekend atop the NEC standings, falls to 11-15 overall and 6-4 in the conference.

In game one, Monmouth, which stranded 17 runners, earned an 8-7 victory in 15 innings, while senior Kyle Breese and Dan Smith combined for a 4-0 win in game two.

Monmouth, which stranded five runners in the first two innings, received a lead-off double from Mike Casale to start the third frame. After a groundout moved Casale to third, the Hawks went ahead 1-0 on Nick Pulsonetti's grounder to first base.

Behind back-to-back singles to open the top of the fourth, the Mount knotted the score at 1-1, off Monmouth starter Nick Meyers. With runners on the corners, and no outs, Josh Winter grounded into a double play, which allowed Kyle Kane to cross the plate.

MSM grabbed a 3-1 lead in the top of the sixth, as the Mountaineers strung together three straight two-out singles to plate a run, and notched a score on a wild pitch.

The Hawks answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth, after loading the bases again, as Monmouth got a pair of RBI groundouts from Bobby Dombrowski and Anthony Lawrence to tie the score at 3-3.

Monmouth took a 4-3 lead in the seventh, capitalizing on a pair of Mount errors in the inning. Ryan Terry started off the frame reaching on a throwing error, and advanced to second on Casale's sacrifice bunt. With Jamie Rosenkranz at the plate, Terry stole third and scampered home on Mark Quaranta's throwing error from behind the plate for the one-run edge.

Jacob Darr drew a lead-off walk to start the eighth for the Mount, advanced to second on a groundout, and tied the score at 4-4 on Shane Eyler's single through the left side. With the go-ahead run at second, Neil Harm entered to relieve Meyers and promptly retired the next two batters to end the frame.

The Hawks put a pair of runners in scoring position in the home half of the ninth, with two away, but starting leftfielder turned reliever Mike Matta struck out Rosenkranz to end the inning.

Nick McNamara, who recorded the final two outs in the top of the ninth for the Hawks, surrendered a lead-off double to Darr to open the tenth, but Monmouth turned a 6-4-3 double play to stop the threat.

Cal Costanzo, in a 13-pitch at-bat, battled back from an 0-2 count and was hit by a pitch to give Monmouth a one-out baserunner in the bottom of the tenth, and Danny Avella followed with a free pass of his own. With two runners on, Dombrowski grounded into a double play as well.

The Mount broke through with a couple of runs off Matt Goitz in the top of the 14th inning to take a 6-4 lead, as a fielding error with two outs allowed a pair to cross home. MSM loaded the bases with two outs, and Eyler's grounder on a full count got through short, allowing two runs to cross, giving the Mount a two-run edge.

Three straight singles opened the home half of the 14th for Monmouth and Pulsonetti raced home on Dombrowski's foul out to first base, trimming the lead to 6-5. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, the Mount a run down at the plate on a Boyd grounder to third, but Terry drew a walk to knot the score at 6-6.

MSM loaded the bases once again in the top of the 15th and pushed a run across on a fielding error, taking a 7-6 lead.

A lead-off walk to Rosenkranz and Pulsonetti's single put a pair of runners on for the Hawks in the bottom of the 15th frame, and after failing to move the runners up with a sacrifice, Costanzo laced a run-scoring single to right to tie the game at 7-7. After Avella was intentionally walked, Dombrowski was hit by a pitch on a 1-0 count to force in the winning run.

Shippee (1-0) picked up the win for Monmouth, going two-thirds of an inning, while Costa Kapotahanasis, who allowed two runs, was saddled with the loss for the Mount.

Meyers tossed 7.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, with six strikeouts, while the Hawks' bullpen pitched a shutout over the next 5.2 frames to maintain the tie before allowing a run. McNameara worked 2.2 shutout innings, while Goitz allowed a pair of unearned runs on 2.2 frames.

Pulsonetti, Costanzo and Avella each had three hits to lead the Hawks' 16-hit attack.

The Hawks notched a run in the first inning of game two, as Casale drew a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Rosenkranz's single. Monmouth doubled its advantage to 2-0 in the second when Avella yanked the first pitch over the fence in right for his team-leading fourth home of the year.

Costanzo laced a two-run single up the middle in the fourth, to push Monmouth ahead 4-0, which drove in Casale and Pulsonetti.

Breese worked 6.0 shutout innings, allowing just three hits to pick up the win and improve to 3-2, while Smith worked a perfect seventh frame, with two strikeouts, to finish the victory.

Monmouth and Mount St. Mary's are scheduled to play another Northeast Conference doubleheader on Sunday, April 11, starting at noon.