NEWARK, Del.
- The Monmouth University baseball team scored five runs in the top of the
second and junior lefty Andrew McGee (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) threw
a complete game as the Monmouth University baseball team defeated Delaware,
7-3, Friday afternoon at Bob Hannah Baseball Stadium. With the win, the Hawks
move to 2-3 on the season, while the Blue Hens fall to 3-4.
McGee scattered 10 hits
without walking a batter over the full nine innings, allowing three earned
runs. He struck out five. Steve Wilgus (Woolwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) and
Kyle Perry (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) added two hits and two RBI's
each, with Wilgus hitting his first-career home run and scoring twice. Jon Guida
(Martinsville, N.J./Bridgewater Raritan), Danny Avella (Matawan, N.J./Christian
Brothers Academy), Owen Stewart (Howell, N.J./St. Rose), Dan Shea (Wilmington,
Del./Salesianum) and Joe Bamford (Washington, N.J./Warren Hills Regional
[Northampton CC]) each added a hit and a
run scored for the Hawks offense.
Jimmy Yezzo, Zach Lopes and
Cameron Travalini led Delaware offense with two hits each. Junior starting
pitcher Chad Kuhl, ranked by Baseball America as the top prospect in the Colonial
Athletic Association for the 2013 and 2014 Major League Baseball First Year
Player Drafts, took the loss, allowing six runs, three earned, on seven hits
and a walk, while striking out eight.
Monmouth struck for five
runs, two earned, on four hits, a walk and two errors in the top of the second
inning. Guida, Avella and Stewart reached on a single, an error and a single,
respectively, to load the bases to start the inning. Following a strikeout, Bamford
singled to right to bring Guida to the plate, before Wilgus singled to left to plate Avella. With the bases still
loaded, Perry drew a one-out walk to force in Stewart. On a potential double-play
ball put into play by Jake Gronsky (Danville, Pa./Danville Area), the Blue Hens
got the out at second before the an errant throw to first allowed Bamford and
Wilgus to score the Hawks' fourth and fifth runs of the inning.
Delaware struck for one run in
each of the second, fourth and fifth innings to draw to within two runs at 5-3.
A one-out bunt single by Lopes preceded Travalini's triple to right to score
the Blue Hens' first run of the game before McGee worked out of further trouble
with a strikeout and a groundout to end the second inning. In the fourth,
Travalini again struck, this time with a two-out single up the middle, before
scoring on Ryan Hartley's double to left. In the fifth, Brock Niggebrugge led
off with a fly ball to right that played tricks in the wind on Shea in right
field, resulting in a double. Niggebrugge moved to third on a groundout and
scored on a DJ Long sacrifice fly.
After a scoreless sixth,
Wilgus sent a fly ball into the same wind that Niggebrugge utilized, resulting
in the sophomore left fielder's first career round tripper to spot McGee an
extra run of support and put the Hawks on top, 6-3.
In the top of the ninth, Shea
led off with an infield single off left-handed reliever Eric Sawyer, before
moving to second on a Bamford sacrifice bunt. After Sawyer retired Wilgus on a
groundout for the second out, the Blue Hens called on righty Luke Alicknavitch
to pitch to Perry. But the sophomore backstop singled to bring in Shea and give
McGee a four-run cushion heading to the bottom of the ninth. The Blue Hens
threatened with a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the ninth, but McGee got
a strikeout, a flyout and a groundout to secure the complete-game victory.
The Hawks continue their
three-game series at Delaware Saturday. First pitch from Bob Hannah Baseball
Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.
