BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - The Monmouth University baseball team, seeded fourth, fell to top-seeded Sacred Heart, 5-4 in the first game of the 2010 Northeast Conference Tournament presented by Akadema on Thursday afternoon at TD Bank Ballpark. The Hawks came back from down 4-0 to tie the game in the eighth before ultimately falling to the top-seeded Pioneers.
With the score tied at 4-4 with one away in the bottom of the eighth, SHU senior JJ Edwards tripled home pinch-runner Jonathon Servilla to give the Pioneers a one-run lead.
Left-hander Kyle Breese (Monmouth Junction, N.J. /South Brunswick) was saddled with the loss for the Hawks, as the senior tied a career-high with 8.0 innings of work and a career-best 10 strikeouts.
MU falls to 22-26 on the season, while Sacred Heart improves to 30-25. The Hawks will now take on the loser of the #2 CCSU-#3 Wagner game later this afternoon at 12:00 p.m. tomorrow in the tournament's first elimination game.
Senior Bobby Dombrowski (Denville, N.J. /Seton Hall Prep) led off the top of the second inning with single to center for Monmouth, and freshman Danny Avella (Matawan, N.J. /Christian Brothers Academy) followed with a base hit. With two outs in the frame, sophomore Josh Boyd (Port Murray, N.J. /West Morris Central) singled to left, but Dombrowski got thrown out at home to end the inning.
With runners at the corners with one away in the bottom of the second, Hunter Phillips singled to center, scoring Jeff Heppner to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead after two frames. Sacred Heart struck for three more in the third, and might have added more if MU right fielder Anthony Lawrence (Fairless Hills, Pa. /Pennsbury) did not make a diving catch to preserve the 4-0 game.
After reaching on a fielder's choice in the top of the seventh, Boyd stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Heppner. Fifth-year senior Mike Casale (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) put the Hawks on the board with a RBI single up the middle, scoring Boyd, to cut the lead to 4-1.
After a perfect bottom of the seventh from Breese, Jamie Rosenkranz (Oakhurst, N.J. /Ocean Township) and Dombrowski both reached on fielding errors by the SHU shortstop and third basemen, respectfully in the top of the eighth. With pinch-runner Chris Perrett (Morris Plains, N.J. /Morris Catholic) on third, catcher Cal Costanzo (Edison, N.J. /Edison) chased him home with a single up the middle, cutting the Pioneers' lead in half, 4-2.
Avella then scored on a wild pitch to cut the top-seed's lead to one, and the Hawks knotted the game at 4-4 one batter later when Boyd singled home Costanzo.
Boyd, who went 3-for-4, led Monmouth's 10-hit attack, while Avella added a pair of hits.
Monmouth, which has now lost all five games to the Pioneers this season, has fallen by one run in three of those games.
