EMMITSBURG, MD. - The Monmouth University baseball split a Northeast Conference doubleheader with Mount St. Mary's, Friday afternoon at Straw Family Stadium. In game one, Monmouth used three, first inning doubles and a Josh Boyd (Port Murray, N.J./West Morris Catholic) home run in the fifth to cruise to a 7-2 victory before falling in the final inning of game two, 3-2.
With the game one victory, Monmouth (33-17, 24-7 NEC) earned its 24th league win which sets the new program high erasing the previous benchmark of 23 wins set in 2002.
The Blue and White jumped on top in the first inning as Ed Martin (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan [Brookdale CC]) singled up the middle and moved to third on Ryan Terry's (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman) 66th career double. Nick Pulsonetti (Old Tappan, N.J./Northern Valley Regional) followed with a two-run, two-bagger to put the Hawks up 2-0. After Jake Gronsky (Danville, N.J./Danville Area) grounded out, Owen Stewart (Howell, N.J./St. Rose) and Tim Bickford (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan) connected on back-to-back RBI doubles to push the lead to 4-0.
Boyd blasted a three-run home run, his first round-tripper of the season, scoring Gronsky, who reached on a single, and Stewart, who earned a free pass, to give the Blue and White a commanding 7-0 advantage.
The Mount tacked on single runs in the fourth and fifth, yet was not enough to catch MU.
Every starter picked up a hit while Martin tallied two base knocks for Monmouth.
Andy McDonnell (Newtown Square, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) picked up his fifth win of the season, hurling 5.2 innings allowing two runs on seven hits while fanning three. Rookie Stephen Fry (Washingtonville, N.J./Washingtonville) did not allow a run in 1.1 innings of relief for the Hawks.
Like the first two game of the series, the Hawks started game two by scoring in the first inning. Martin earned a free pass and moved to second on Terry's bunt single. Two batters later, Chris Perret (Morris Plains, N.J./Morris Catholic) delivered a RBI single chasing in Martin and moving Terry to third who eventually came in to score on a wild pitch to give MU an early 2-0 lead.
Sam Nott's two-run home run off of MU's starter Dan Smith (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) in the home half of the first tied the game at 2-2
The Hawks loaded the bases in the fifth as Jon Guida (Martinsville, N.J./Bridgewater Raritan) walked and moved to second on Anthony Lawrence's (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury) groundout. Martin followed with a free pass and Terry was plunked by a pitch, yet Mount's Dan Horner got Pulsonetti to ground into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play to escape the jam.
In bottom of the seventh, Zach Helman singled through the right side and pinch runner Brandon Scott advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a walk to Mark Quaranta, Michael Foster grounded out to Stewart, who flipped to Smith at first, giving Scott enough time to round third and score the game-winning run.
Despite pitching his fourth-consecutive complete game, Smith's five-game win streak was snapped as the sophomore threw 6.2 innings yielding three runs on seven hits while striking out three.
Buddy Field earned his first win of the season in relief for the Mount, not allowing a run in 1.2 innings.
Monmouth and Mount conclude its four-game series tomorrow with a nine inning affair slated for 1 p.m.
