WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Monmouth head baseball coach Dean Ehehalt earned his 600th career win on Saturday afternoon at the MU Baseball Field as the Hawks walked off with a win on Grant Lamberton (Newark, Del./Salesianum)'s bases loaded walk in the bottom of the 13th to defeat Manhattan, 5-4. Monmouth earns its first league victory of the season and improves to 4-11 overall, while the Jaspers drop to 5-15 overall and 2-2 in conference.
“I'm happy for our guys,” said Ehehalt. “They battled, that was a wild game with great plays made on both sides.”
Cary Jacobson (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades) led the way offensively for Monmouth, adding three hits, an RBI and two runs scored, including the game-winning run. Shaine Hughes (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) and Dan Shea (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) also added multi-hit contests for MU. Mike Brambilla (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) earned his first career win with a scoreless 13th inning after Justin Andrews (Neshaminy, Pa./Langhorne) threw four frames and allowed just an unearned run, fanning two. Chris McKenna (Pine Beach, N.J./Toms River South) started for Monmouth and threw eight plus innings, allowing three runs, none of them earned, on three hits with six strikeouts.
Joey Rocchietti threw 7.1 innings for Manhattan, allowing four runs, one earned, on six hits, punching out five. Matt Simonetti eventually ended up suffering the loss after 4.2 innings, allowing a run on four hits and striking out two. Chris Reynolds and Joe McClennan both had two hits for the Jaspers.
Lamberton came to bat in the 13th with the bases loaded after Jacobson led off with a double slashed down the right field line. Shea pushed an infield hit to the left side that moved Jacobson to third, and after an intentional walk to Dave Moreno (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional), Lamberton worked out the full count walk to secure the MU win.
The day started with both teams scoring unearned first inning runs. Jose Carrera manufactured the Manhattan run, walking and stealing second before Chris Reynolds was hit by a pitch. On Carrera's steal attempt of third, the throw from Kyle Perry (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) was wide and went into left field to allow Carrera to score.
MU answered with Perry reaching on an error. He moved up to third on a two-base error when an errant pickoff attempt sailed down the right field line, and scored on Hughes' ground out to tie the game. Chris Kalousdian led off the Manhattan second with a double that one-hopped the left field wall. He was able to score when Evan Brown's bunt attempt was thrown away by Hughes to put the Jaspers up 2-1.
Monmouth responded with two runs in the third, sparked by Steve Wilgus (Woolwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) and Perry reaching on errors and Hughes moving them to second and third. Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) drove in a run with a ground out to first, and Jacobson plated another after notching an infield hit on a ball deep in the hole at shortstop.
McKenna then went on a run of retiring 15 consecutive Jaspers, not allowing a baserunner until the eighth inning. The Hawks added him a run in the bottom of that inning, when singles by Hughes and Jacobson set up Lamberton to draw his first bases loaded walk of the afternoon.
The Jaspers managed to work back and tie the game in the ninth, started by Mikey Miranda being hit by a McKenna offering. After Andrews came in the game, Vin Teixeira reached on a Robbie Alessandrine (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) error and Kalousdian moved them both up a bag with a sac bunt. Brown grounded to second to make it 4-3 Monmouth, and Joe McClennan dropped a single just inside the left field line to tie the game in the top of the ninth.
MU threatened in the last of the ninth, getting base hits from Hughes and Perry. With Jacobson batting, a pitch went to the backstop and Perry was tagged out at home trying to score the winning run. Neither team threatened in extra innings until Monmouth won it in the 13th.
The Hawks and Jaspers will play a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at noon, with a seven-inning contest followed by a nine-inning affair. Both games can be seen on ESPN3. Follow @MUHawksBaseball on Twitter for all updates on MU Baseball.
