WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University baseball team swept a Northeast Conference doubleheader behind sophomore pitcher Pat Light's (Colts Neck, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) complete game victory in game one, and Anthony Lawrence's (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury) game two walk-off single in the 12th inning, Saturday afternoon.
Light earned his first win of the season, pitching a complete game allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out six Pioneers, with no walks.
The Hawks (7-6, 3-0 NEC) got on the board in the bottom of the first innings when Ryan Terry (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman) singled to second base and advanced to second on Ed Martin's (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan [Brookdale CC]) sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Jamie Rosenkranz (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township) registered a seeing-eye single through the right side to score Terry, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
MU added to its lead in the second inning as Owen Stewart (Howell, N.J./St. Rose) singled up the middle and advanced on Tim Bickford's (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan) sacrifice bunt. Josh Boyd (Port Murray, N.J./West Morris Central) added a single, chasing Stewart to third, and Terry followed with a ground out to second base, plating Stewart, giving the Hawks a 2-0 advantage.
Sacred Heart (6-9, 0-3 NEC) threatened in the fifth as Hunter Phillips singled to right and moved to second on Dave Boisture's ground out. Dan Perez followed with a single of his own, moving Phillips to third before Light induced a ground ball back up the middle, catching Phillips in a run-down where he was eventually tagged out at home preserving the Hawks two run lead.
In the ensuing inning, the Pionners knotted the score at 2-2 on Robert Griffth's two run homerun that hooked around the left field foul pole.
Danny Avella (Matawan, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) doubled to left field and freshman Jake Gronsky (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) sacrificed pinch-runner Steve Sanguiliano (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central) to third to start the bottom half of the sixth. After Stewart popped up to the SHU's pitcher, Kody Kerski, pinch-hitter Chris Perret (Morris Plains, N.J./Morris Catholic) sent a soft chopper to third where MJ Schifano collected the ball and threw across the diamond off the mark, pulling first baseman MJ Schifano off the bag, allowing Sanguiliano to score. Boyd then registered a RBI double to left, scoring Perret, and Terry reached on another fielding error by Schifano, allowing Boyd to score giving the Hawks a 5-2 lead.
Kerski is saddled with the loss, giving up five runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings of work.
In the seventh inning of game two, freshman reliever Andrew McGee (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) came in to close out the game for sophomore starter Dan Smith (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee), but Steve Tedesco singled with two outs which scored pinch-runner Matt Fitton to tie the game at 3-3.
McGee found himself in a jam as he let up three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs in the 10th. Phillips took a 1-2 pitch back up the middle that was snagged by the rookie who started the 1-2-3 double play and McGee then forced Boisture to ground out to end the Pioneers threat with the score remaining at 3-3.
In the bottom of the 12th inning, pinch-hitter Perret drew a walk and stole second to get into scoring position. After missing a sacrifice bunt opportunity to move Perret to third, Lawrence connected on a 2-2 fastball over the middle of the plate, sending the pitch to the right center field gap, which scored Perret for the game-winning run.
The Blue and White jumped on top in the second inning, as Avella singled to right, advanced to second on Sanguiliano's sacrifice bunt and then moved to third on Stewart's single to right. Boyd followed with a fielder's choice and Terry was plunked in the foot by Pioneer's starter Nick Leiningen, scoring Stewart, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
SHU tied the score at 1-1 in the sixth on a successful suicide squeeze by Giffth, scoring JJ Edwards who single to left to lead off the frame.
Monmouth regained the lead in the bottom half of inning as Avella and Sanguiliano registered singles and senior Cal Costanzo (Edison, N.J./Edison) registered a base hit up the middle, just out of the reach of Phillips, plating both Avella and Sanguiliano, giving the Hawks the one run lead, 3-2.
McGee picked up his third win of the season pitching 6.0 innings out of the bullpen, allowing one run while striking out three. Smith gave up two run on seven hits in his 6.0 innings of work while Mike Korevec picked up the loss for SHU, allowing one run on four MU hits in 6.0 innings out of relief.
Monmouth will look for the four-game sweep as it concludes its series with Sacred Heart tomorrow, March 20th, with first pitched slated for 1:00 p.m.
