LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J.-  Freshman Justin Trochiano (Morganville, N.J./Marlboro) blasted a solo home run down the left field line in the top of the ninth to give Monmouth the lead and eventual win in the second game of a doubleheader at Rider today, 6-4. Monmouth dropped the opener, 8-4, and close the day with a record of 22-21, 14-9 in the league while Rider is now 27-20, 14-6 in conference.

Trochiano homered in the ninth of the scheduled seven-inning game to put Monmouth up, 5-4. Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) then reached on a two-base error and moved to third on a ground out, before Dan Shea (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) hit a ball between the pitcher's mound and third base that he beat out to score Gaetano and give the Hawks insurance in the ninth.

Prior to that, Rider plated two runs to tie the game in their final at-bat in the seventh of the scheduled seven-inning game. Nick Richter drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and with runners at first and third and two out, James Locklear drove an RBI single into left center to tie the game at four.

Monmouth scored twice in the opening inning, getting a Shaine Hughes (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) RBI double and a Christian Holland (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) run-scoring ground out to jump out to a 2-0 lead for T.J. Hunt (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo), who got the nod after throwing a no-hitter in his previous start.

Mike Parsons got a run back for Rider in the third when he scored on a passed ball, and the Hawks responded with a pair in the fifth. Connor White (Wall, N.J./Wall) walked, and Robbie Alessandrine (Sewell, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) singled. Grant Lamberton (Newark, Del./Salesianum) walked to fill the bases, and Cary Jacobson (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades) ripped a single into left to score two and give MU a 4-1 edge.

Parsons scored again in the fifth, this time on an error, to cut the MU lead to 4-2. Rider would tie the game in the seventh before MU went back up in the ninth, and with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Paglione (Mantua, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) came on to pick up the save, getting the final two outs. The final out came on a deep fly ball to right center that Kyle Perry (Toms River, N.J./Toms River South) ranged all the way to the warning track for, eventually making a tremendous sliding catch to end the game. Freshman Mike Brambilla (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) got the win after allowing just two hits and no runs in 1.2 relief innings. Matt Littrell (Bayonne, N.J./Marist) threw a scoreless sixth for MU after Hunt went five, allowing two unearned runs on four hits and fanning six.

Josh Sharik got the loss for Rider to fall to 2-4, after Nick Margevicius started and allowed two runs on four hits. Shea and Steve Wilgus (Woolwich, N.J./Gloucester Catholic) each had two hits for Monmouth.

Rider put up three runs in the first inning of the opening game, getting an RBI single from Justin Thomas and a sac fly from Greg Fazio, as well as Brian Uliana scoring on an error. The Broncs added a run in the second via a Locklear run-scoring single up the middle.

The Hawks struck for single runs in the third and fifth, scoring in the third after Alessandrine singled, stole second, and went to third on a Lamberton base hit. With two down, Gaetano hit a ball through Patrick Murphy's legs at second to score Alessandrine. In the fifth, Lamberton scored on a wild pitch to cut the Rider lead to 4-2.

Tyler Kaiser lifted a two-run homer to right for the Broncs in the sixth to put the home team up 6-2. After Lamberton laced an RBI double to the fence in center to make it 6-3 in the seventh, Eric Strano knocked a two-run single to give Rider an 8-3 advantage. Alessandrine drove in a run with a single in the ninth, but it wasn't enough as Rider took game one, 8-4.

Frank Trimarco (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) suffered the loss for MU, allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits in 5.2 innings. Paglione added 1.1 scoreless relief innings for Monmouth, while Lamberton and Alessandrine both had three-hit games.

Zach Mawson got the win for the Broncs, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits through 6.1. Richter and Locklear had multi-hit contests for Rider.

The teams conclude the regular season on Saturday, with a single nine-inning game set for noon at Sonny Pittaro Field in Lawrenceville, N.J.