LAKEWOOD, N.J. – In the opening round of MAAC Tournament play, Quinnipiac defeated the Monmouth University baseball team by a score of 4-0 on Wednesday afternoon at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, N.J. With the loss, Monmouth will face an elimination game tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 against Manhattan, while Quinnipiac advanced to play the night game against top-seeded Canisius.
Andrew McGee (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) tossed six innings and kept the Bobcats off the board in five of them, but allowed four runs in the third to get the loss. Thomas Jankins tossed eight shutout frames for QU, and Vincent Guglietti had three hits for Quinnipiac. Three Hawks had two hits apiece, and Frank Trimarco (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) and Jeff Paglione (Mantua, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) combined to toss a pair of scoreless innings each.
Mike Blumenthal singled to right leading off the third for QU, and Mike Palladino pushed a bunt up the first base line to reach. After Matthew Batten reached on a single to second, Quinnipiac scored on a bounding ball to first that Blumenthal beat out to the plate to put the Bobcats up 1-0. Matt Iannotti blooped a single to left to plate a second run, and Rob Pescitelli knocked a sacrifice fly to put the Bobcats up 3-0. Ryan Nelson singled to right to drive in a fourth run, all the Bobcats would need.
After that frame, McGee worked through the next three innings without allowing a run to score. The Monmouth offense had some chances, including in the fifth, when Steve Wilgus (Woolwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) doubled with two down just inside the first base bag and Jake Gronsky (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) walked. Craig Sweeney (Middletown, N.J./Middletown South) hit a hot shot to third, but Scott Donaghue grabbed it to end the inning.
Gronsky and Sweeney singled back-to-back with one out in the eighth but could not score, and MU had two batters hit by pitches in the ninth but didn't push a run across against QU closer Gary Binciewicz.
The Hawks will return to FirstEnergy Park tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. to play in an elimination game against #6 Manhattan.
