WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Monmouth scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth and held on to beat Canisius in a high-scoring affair on Sunday afternoon at the MU Baseball Field, 10-9. Monmouth is now 14-19 and 8-7 in the league, while Canisius falls to 20-24, 9-6 in conference.
“Frank [Trimarco] came in and I think he gave us a big spark and it picked our energy up,” said Head Coach Dean Ehehalt. “We had some really good at-bats at the end of the game.”
Robbie Alessandrine (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) started the big eighth inning for Monmouth with a bloop single that landed on the foul line in right field. He stole second, and went to third on Steve Wilgus' (Woolwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) ground out. Shaine Hughes (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) drew a walk, and Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) muscled a base hit into center to tie the game. Kyle Perry (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) tucked a single just inside the third base bag to give MU the lead, and Dan Shea (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) padded the lead by launching a two-run double off the wall in right center to put the Hawks up three and cap off the four-run eighth.
MU originally jumped in front with a three-run first, getting a leadoff single from Grant Lamberton (Newark, Del./Salesianum) before Gaetano was hit by a pitch. Perry picked out a 2-2 pitch and drove it to straightaway center for a double, scoring both runners and giving MU a 3-0 edge.
Canisius picked up an unearned run in the second, with Connor Panas singling and moving to third when the throw from Hughes traveled down the right field line. Panas scored when Alessandrine couldn't handle an Anthony Massicci ground out to cut the Monmouth lead to 3-1.
Dave Moreno (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) reached on an error to start the home second, and moved to second on an Alessandrine sacrifice. Lamberton came through with an RBI double to right center, and after a walk to Hughes, Gaetano slashed a single to left to put the Hawks up 5-1 after two.
Canisius battled back to tie the game in the fifth, started by Alex O'Donnell reaching on a Hughes error. Brett Siddall walked and Ryan Stekl singled to load the bases, and Monmouth got an out at the plate on a Jesse Puscheck comebacker. Jack Massa was hit by a pitch with the bases full to plate a run, and Panas followed with a base hit to left to cut the Monmouth lead to 5-3. Massicci drew a bases loaded walk, and Zach Garick followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at five.
It didn't take long for Canisius to grab the lead, using two hits and a hit batsmen to go in front when Panas knocked a two-run single to right. Christian Holland (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) drove in a run with a ground out to cut the lead to 7-6 in the seventh after a pair of walks before Monmouth posted four in the eighth to go up 10-7. Siddall hit a two-run homer to right in the ninth, but it was not enough as Monmouth downed Canisius 10-7 to take the three-game series.
Frank Trimarco (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) got the win for MU, allowing just the Siddall home run in 3.1 innings. Anthony Ciavarella (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) started for MU, going 4.1 innings and allowing five runs, three earned on five hits. J.P. Stevenson lasted just 1.2 frames for Canisius after getting the nod, giving up five runs, three earned on five hits. Tyler Smith was solid, firing off 3.1 shutout innings. Iannick Remillard took the loss after allowing the four runs in the eighth.
Offensively, Lamberton had two hits, two runs and an RBI for Monmouth, while Gaetano was 2-for-3 with two RBI's and three runs scored. Perry also added two hits, two runs scored and three RBI's, while Shea drove in three of his own on two hits. Panas was 3-for-3 with three runs driven in, while two through five in the Golden Griffins order all had two hits apiece.
The Hawks are back on the diamond Tuesday for a non-conference meeting with Hofstra at 3:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3. Follow MU Baseball on Twitter for all updates @MUHawksBaseball.
