NEW BRITAIN, CONN. - The Monmouth University baseball team split a Northeast Conference doubleheader at Central Connecticut State on Friday afternoon. Paced by senior Kyle Breese's complete game victory, the Hawks posted a 5-2 victory in game one, but allowed a 10-1 lead slip away in an 11-10 loss in the nightcap.
With the split, the Hawks stand at 7-11 overall and 3-4 in the league, while the Blue Devils are now 7-8 overall and 4-3 in the Northeast Conference.
In game one, Breese tossed a complete game victory, striking out six, while Tim McEndy and Ryan Terry connected on home runs for the Hawks.
After a scoreless first inning, Monmouth got on the board in the second frame when McEndy launched his first homer of the season, a two-out, two-run shot to right center, driving in Bobby Dombrowski, for a 2-0 lead. The Hawks pushed the lead to 3-0 in the third when Terry connected on a lead-off home run to left, and took a 4-0 edge in the fourth on Josh Boyd's RBI single after a pair of walks.
CCSU pulled within 4-1 in the home half of the fourth behind back-to-back doubles opened the frame.
Monmouth got the run back in the top of the fifth when Mike Casale led off with a double down the rightfield line, advanced to third on a groundout, and crossed home on a wild pitch.
The Blue Devils climbed within 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth behind three straight two-out singles.
Monmouth, which loaded the bases with one away in the top of the seventh, but did not score, worked around a one-out double in the bottom of the frame to hold on for the 5-2 win.
Terry, who had three hits in the opening game of the series, added two hits at the top of the order for Monmouth, which had 10 hits in the game, while Cal Costanzo and Dombrowski delivered a pair of hits each as well.
Terry wasted no time getting things started in the second game, leading off with a double to center, and scoring on Jamie Rosenkranz's single. With two runners on, Costanzo followed with a two-run double, giving Monmouth a 3-0 lead.
The Blue Devils climbed within 3-1 in the bottom of the first off Pat Light, as a one-out walk came around to score on a pair of singles.
Monmouth pushed across two more runs in the top of the third after CCSU walked the bases loaded with one out. With the bags packed, Rosenkranz scored on Dombrowski's fielder's choice groundout, and Owen Stewart drove in the Hawks' fifth run with a single to right center, plating Costanzo.
Terry's solo homer in the top of the fourth, pushed MU ahead 6-1, and the Hawks notched four more runs - all with two outs - in the fifth frame to coral a 10-1 advantage. In the fifth, Stewart drew a two-out walk and scored on Matt McEndy's triple for a 7-1 lead, while Boyd added a run-scoring single for the 8-1 edge. Terry, who reached on a fielding error, allowing Boyd to score, also crossed home on Casale's double for the 10-1 lead.
In the fifth, CCSU pulled within 10-2 on three straight one-out hits, as Sean Allaire delivered an RBI single to right, and climbed within 10-6 in the home half of the sixth. In the sixth, Normand Gosselin delivered a run-scoring double off Light, before reliever Nick McNamara walked his first two batters, the latter which drove in a run, and then surrendered a two-run single to Anthony Scialdone. McNamara, who allowed all three batters he faced to reach base, was then lifted in favor of freshman Neil Harm, who got Pat Epps to fly out to end the inning.
CCSU climbed all the way back in the bottom of the seventh to earn the split, as the Blue Devils notched five runs, capped by Epps' walk-off single off Chris Perret. In the seventh, Tommy Meade walked to lead off the inning and Wells homered to left center to make it 10-8. Chris Renzoni doubled off the center field wall and pinch-runner Tyler Casserta scored on a single from Miller-Jones, making it 10-9. Kyle Zarotney and Allaire walked to load the bases before Miller-Jones scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 10-10. Epps singled through the left side to plate the game-winning run for the Blue Devils to earn the split.
Monmouth's first three hitters collected two hits apiece in game two, as Terry paced the Hawks with three runs scored.
Light worked 5.2 innings in the no-decision, allowing five runs on nine hits, while Harm allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning. Andy McDonnell (0-2) was saddled with the loss, without retiring a batter, with three walks.
Monmouth and Central complete the weekend series with a single game at 1 p.m. on Saturday in New Britain.
