WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Anthony Ciavarella (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) struck out nine and walked none, but Scott Donaghue had three hits for Quinnipiac as the Bobcats took the rubber game from Monmouth, 5-3 at the MU Baseball Field on Monday afternoon. The Bobcats improve to 9-16, 6-3 in conference while MU is 7-14, 3-3 in the league.
Ciavarella gets the loss, fanning nine and walking none while allowing four runs, three of which were earned, in 6.2 innings. Justin Thomas worked 4.2 innings as the QU starter, giving up a run on five hits. Gary Binciewicz came on to get the final out of the fifth to earn the win as five QU relievers combined to allow just two Monmouth runs, both surrendered by Taylor Luciani.
Offensively, MU was led by Steve Wilgus (Woolwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) who was two-for-five with an RBI. For QU, Donaghue had three hits and two runs scored, while Lou Iannotti went two-for-five with three RBI's. Mike Palladino also added a pair of hits for Quinnipiac.
The Bobcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, when Donaghue lined a one out double onto the warning track in left field. After Matthew Batten singled to right to put runners on the corners and advanced to second on a wild pitch, Iannotti put a single through the right side to score both runs. The visitors added single runs in the second and third as well, getting a Brian Ruditys sac fly in the second and Batten scoring on a wild pitch after a rundown between first and second.
MU got a run back in the fourth, with Shaine Hughes (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) singling through the middle and Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) walking on four pitches. After Kyle Perry (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) bunted them both over, Dan Shea (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) brought home a run on a ground out to shortstop.
The Hawks struck for two more to cut the lead to one in the seventh. Ryan Bailey (Mount Kisco, N.Y./Fox Lane) pinch hit and singled back through the middle and Justin Trochiano (Morganville, N.J./Marlboro) walked. Robbie Alessandrine (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) reached on a throwing error by third baseman Matthew Oestreicher that scored pinch runner Pete Papcun (Brick, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy), and Wilgus followed with a ground ball to the left side that scored Trochiano to slice the QU lead to 5-3.
The Bobcats grabbed a big insurance run in the ninth when Iannotti dropped a single into center with the bases loaded to place a run, and MU went down in order in the ninth to make the final score 5-3 QU.
The Hawks are back in action tomorrow when they take on Wagner in a makeup game at home at 3:00 p.m.
