GREENVILLE, NC– Ricky Dennis (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) retired the first 19 East Carolina hitters and took a no-hitter into the eighth inning as the Monmouth baseball team knocked off its second ranked opponent this year, topping No. 17 East Carolina 4-0 in Greenville, NC Sunday afternoon. The Hawks are now 7-11 while ECU is 13-7.
"Of course Ricky Dennis was the story of the day," said head coach Dean Ehehalt. "He got into a great rhythm early and took it from there. I am very happy for Ricky."
Dennis held a perfect game through 6 1/3 innings and carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, eventually allowing just one hit through eight scoreless frames with six strikeouts. Kirk Morgan broke up the no-hitter with a pinch-hit single through the right side, the only Pirates hit of the afternoon. Following the hit and a walk, Garrett Brooks lined one to Shaine Hughes (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) that he caught, tagged the runner and fired to second to end the inning on a 3-6 triple play.
Monmouth got on the board via a Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, PA/Scranton Preparatory) RBI double down the right field line to score Grant Lamberton (Newark, DE/Salesianum), who had walked leading off. The Blue and White added a run in the third on back-to-back doubles from Hughes and Pete Papcun (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) to make it 2-0.
In the fourth, Justin Trochiano (Morganville, NJ/Marlboro) hit his first home run of the year, a solo shot to left to tack on a run and make it 3-0. In the eighth, Papcun was hit by a pitch and was pinch run for by Ryan Byrd (Red Bank, NJ/Middletown North). Cary Jacobson (Los Angeles, CA/Palisades) singled to move Byrd to third, and Ryan Bailey (Mount Kisco, NY/Fox Lane) drove him in with his second hit of the day. Justin Andrews (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy) worked a 1-2-3 ninth to secure Monmouth's win.
The victory marks Monmouth's second over a ranked program this season after beating No. 8 Virginia two weeks ago. It is the first time in program history that MU has beaten two ranked teams in a season. The triple play also marked the first for the Hawks since the 2009 NEC Tournament, when the Blue and White turned the trick against Wagner.
Dennis earned the win for MU, fanning six in eight one-hit shutout innings. Bailey had two hits for MU. Davis Kirkpatrick took the loss for ECU.
"Today was a great team win and the epitome of playing together," added Ehehalt. Bouncing back like we did today shows a lot of toughness. We got on the board early which always helps and we got the line out triple play in the eighth which was huge. I can't be more proud of our team development up to this point."
The Hawks are back in action Wednesday afternoon for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch at Hofstra.
