WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Senior RHP T.J. Hunt (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo) threw a complete game in the first game and Anthony Ciavarella (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) fanned seven in the nightcap as the Monmouth University baseball team split a pair of games with Manhattan on Sunday afternoon, winning the opener 3-2 before dropping the second game 5-4. The Hawks are now 5-12, 2-1 in the league, while Manhattan moves to 6-16, 3-3 in conference.
In the opener, Hunt tossed seven innings, allowing two runs on three hits and recorded four strikeouts. Hunt only allowed one baserunner after the third inning, stranding the tying run at third in the sixth. Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) had two hits including a two-run home run for MU. Ciavarella started the second game for Monmouth, fanning seven in 7.2 innings and allowing just two runs, neither earned, on six hits with no walks. Frank Trimarco (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) allowed a pair of runs in his 3.1 innings, striking out two. Gaetano and Kyle Perry (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) recorded a pair of hits for the Blue and White in game two.
Michael Scarinci started for the Jaspers in the opener and worked just 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks to take the loss. Joe Jacques and Shawn Kanwisher combined to keep Monmouth on the board over the final 1.2 innings of the opener. Scott McClennan delivered nine innings of two-run ball, giving up two hits and fanning seven in the no-decision. Casey Meyers got the win after two shutout relief innings. Vin Teixeira had a hit and a run in the opener, and Jason Patnick went 3-for-4 with a run in the second game. Chris Kalousdian added a pair of hits and Evan Brown had two RBI's in the nightcap.
In the opener, Shaine Hughes (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) lined a double the other way into the left center field gap. The next batter was Gaetano, and he turned on an 0-1 offering and blasted a two-run home run inside the right field foul pole for his second long ball of the season.
Manhattan immediately answered with a two spot in the second, started by Mikey Miranda's leadoff walk. After a Teixeira single to center, both runners were moved up on a sacrifice before Joe McClennan dropped a single into left to score the first run for the visitors. Michael Pfenninger lifted a sac fly to tie the game for the Jaspers.
Both teams were kept off the board until the bottom of the fifth, when Robbie Alessandrine (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) walked and Steve Wilgus (Woolwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) moved him up on a sacrifice. Perry lifted a liner to right that went over the head of Manhattan right fielder Chris Kalousdian, and the RBI double brought home Alessandrine in what would eventually be the winning run. Hunt struck out a pair in the final inning, including Pfenninger to end the game, to give MU the first game victory.
In Game Two, the Hawks got out to an early lead when Wilgus reached on an error by Manhattan shortstop Adam Genners on a low throw. Perry rapped a single to left, and Hughes followed with an RBI base hit through the middle to give Monmouth a 1-0 lead. Again, neither team did much offensively until the fifth, when the Jaspers struck for a pair. Joe McClennan reached on an error and Patnick singled, and both moved up on a sacrifice. Genners pushed a bunt back to Ciavarella and on a close play at the plate, McClennan slid in safely to tie the game. Kalousdian followed with a bunt of his own and Patnick came home to put the Jaspers up 2-1.
In the bottom of the eighth, Perry dropped a single into right and Hughes was hit by a pitch. On a wild sequence, Gaetano tied the game with a single to right. On the throw in from right field, it appeared Hughes was caught between second and third but the ball was dropped, allowing Hughes to reach third safely. MU didn't score any more in the inning, but the game was knotted at two.
The teams combined for just three baserunners in the ninth and tenth before the Jaspers struck in the 11th. Kalousdian doubled to the gap in left center, and Chris Reynolds walked. After Trimarco got two outs, Evan Brown tucked a two-run double inside the first base bag to give the Jaspers a 4-2 lead, all they would need to take the third game of the series.
The Hawks are back in action on Wednesday when the visit in-state rival Rutgers at 3:00 p.m.
