WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Freshman Matt Littrell (Bayonne, N.J./Marist) threw 5.2 solid innings and Dan Shea (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) knocked his second home run of the season as the Monmouth baseball team defeated Hofstra, 5-2 on Tuesday at the MU Baseball Field. The Hawks improve to 15-19, while Hofstra drops to 15-26.
“It was a good team win today,” said Head Coach Dean Ehehalt. “Matt [Littrell] was able to give us a solid outing and dug in when needed.”
Hofstra got a run in the second on a Brian MacDonald sacrifice fly, but it didn't take long for Monmouth to answer as Shea took a high 2-1 offering and hit over the wall in straightaway center field leading off for his second long ball of the season.
Monmouth added a pair in the third, beginning with Grant Lamberton (Newark, Del./Salesianum) beating out an infield single and stealing second. With two down, Kyle Perry (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) bounced a single up the middle to score Lamberton and then stole second himself. Three straight walks, the third to Pete Papcun (Brick, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy), forced in a run with the bases loaded to make it 3-1 Monmouth.
Hofstra cut the deficit to one in the fourth, getting a pair of walks with a single in between before Mat Annunziata hit a ball towards first that Papcun couldn't handle to score a run and make it 3-2. The Hawks answered in an unorthodox way in the fifth, with Perry and Shea reaching on a pair of errors on Leiderman. With two out, Shea broke from first and when the throw went down to second, Perry scored. Shea was tagged out on the play, but Monmouth had taken a 4-2 lead.
MU manufactured its final run in the eighth, with Robbie Alessandrine (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) walking, moving to second on a sacrifice and third on a wild pitch and scoring on a Lamberton sacrifice fly to center. Justin Andrews (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) completed his four-out save and Monmouth took the non-conference matchup, 5-2.
“Offensively, we did a very good job of manufacturing some runs, which is a really good sign this time of year,” added Ehehalt.
Littrell worked 5.2 for Monmouth, allowing a run on five hits with four strikeouts in getting the win. Jeff Paglione (Mantua, N.J./Gloucester Catholic), started and worked his two scheduled innings, giving up a run on two hits. Andrews picked up his third save with 1.1 perfect frames. Offensively, Lamberton had two hits, a run and an RBI, Wilgus had a pair of hits and Perry scored twice in addition to Shea's homer.
For Hofstra, Adam Heidenfelder started and threw 2.2 innings, allowing three runs on four hits to take the loss. Brendan Mulligan allowed just a run in 3.1 strong relief innings.
The Hawks are back on the diamond tomorrow against Saint Joseph's at 3:30 p.m. at home, with the game scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN3. Follow Monmouth baseball on Twitter @MUHawksBaseball.
