CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA– Grant Lamberton (Newark, DE/Salesianum) and Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, PA/Scranton Preparatory) each recorded three hits at the plate, Ricky Dennis (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) hurled six innings to pick up the win and Justin Andrews (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy) tossed three frames out of the bullpen to earn the save as the Monmouth University baseball team posted a 6-4 win over No. 8 Virginia, Sunday afternoon at Davenport Field. The victory is the Hawks' first over a top-10 program history and their first over a ranked program since defeating 16th-ranked East Carolina in 2010.
"Our team really battled today and showed a great deal of resiliency, especially after yesterday,” said head coach Dean Ehehalt. “We answered the bell today. Ricky Dennis was excellent and of course Justin Andrews was solid.”
After the Hoos capitalized on a Monmouth error in the eighth to cut the lead to two, 6-4, Andrews got the first two batters to fly out in the ninth and worked around a two-out error and walk by striking out Doak Dozier looking for the final out of the game to give the Hawks their third win of the season.
UVa (7-4) got things started in the home half of the second, scoring a run on a Nate Eikhoff's single which plated Ryan Karstetter, who doubled down the left field line.
The Hawks answered in the third, plating three runs on four hits. Lamberton singled up the middle with one out and swiped second to move into scoring position. Christian Holland (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) connected on an RBI single to left to put the Hawks on the board. Shaine Hughes (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) followed with a single of his own and Dan Shea (Wilmington, DE/Salesianum) worked a walk to load the bases. Following a strikeout, Gaetano took a 0-2 pitch down the right field line for a two-run double to give MU a lead it would never relinquish.
The Cavaliers got a run back in the ensuing half inning as Daniel Pinero capped off three singles in a row.
Hughes got things going in the fifth for Monmouth with a leadoff double to center, moved to third on a failed pickoff attempt and came home to score on a single by Shea to regain the two-run lead.
In the seventh, Adam Haseley doubled to lead off and scored on the next play, a bunt single, that was mishandled by Andrews to bring the Cavs within one, 4-3.
Gaetano singled to center and moved to third on Ryan Bailey's (Mount Kisco, NY/Fox Lane) double to start the eighth inning. Following a groundout and a walk to Sean Arnott (Brielle, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy [Temple]) to load the bases, Lamberton connected with a single through the right side to chase in Gaetano and Holland forced a walk to bring in Lamberton to put MU back in front by three, 6-3, and cap off the Blue and White's scoring.
Dennis picked up his first win of the season, allowing just two runs on eight hits, while punching out two. Andrews struck out a pair in his three innings of work and surrendered two runs, one earned, on five hits and a walk. Tommy Doyle took the loss for UVa, yielding four runs on eight hits and two walks, while striking out six.
“I am very proud of our team,” added Ehehalt. “This is not an easy environment to come into and play well as The University of Virginia baseball program is one of excellence and class.”
Monmouth returns to action next weekend with a three game series at George Washington, March 11-13.
