JERSEY CITY, NJ – Monmouth's baseball team scored five runs in the ninth inning, the second time on the afternoon the Hawks plated five in a frame to take the weekend opener at Saint Peter's, 11-7. The Hawks move to 16-13 and 6-1 in conference, while the Peacocks fall to 4-21 and 0-7 in the league.
"I'm proud of the way we battled back today," said head coach Dean Ehehalt. "It was a difficult day to play due to the conditions but we manufactured runs late in the game. Joe Molettiere and Jordan McCrum were very effective out of the pen and kept us in striking distance."
Tied at six headed to the ninth, Monmouth put up five runs to take an 11-6 lead. Shaine Hughes (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) was hit by a pitch leading off, and two batters later Cary Jacobson (Los Angeles, CA/Palisades) walked. Ryan Bailey (Mount Kisco, NY/Fox Lane) singled to third base with two out to score the lead run, and Jacobson came home shortly after on a wild pitch to make it 8-6. Christian Holland (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) was also hit by a pitch before Robbie Alessandrine (Sewell, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) singled to left to bring around Bailey. Holland stole home, and Justin Trochiano (Morganville, NJ/Marlboro) singled home Alessandrine to cap the five-run inning and make it 11-6. Gary Puente added a run for SPU in the ninth but the Peacocks got no closer and MU took the opener, 11-7.
Down 5-1 in the seventh, the Hawks rallied for their first five-run inning of the game to take a 6-5 lead. Aidan Favia (Short Hills, NJ/Millburn) started things with a single, Alessandrine walked, and Trochiano reached on a throwing error by Jon Kristoffersen that scored Favia to cut it to 5-2. Grant Lamberton (Newark, DE/Salesianum) walked and Hughes came through with a three-run triple to right center to tie the game. Monmouth went in front on Jacobson's single to score Hughes.
SPU tied it in the bottom of the inning via a bases loaded walk to Tommy Toole, making it 6-6. The Peacocks took the lead in the bottom of the sixth with four runs, three off the bats of Toole and James Spadaccini with RBI singles, with two scoring on Spadaccini's after an error in left field. Angel Perez brought in a run with a fielder's choice to make it 5-1.
Monmouth's first run came in the sixth on Hughes' RBI single, while Saint Peter's got on the board in the first on Spadaccini's bases loaded walk.
Hughes had two hits and four RBI's for the Blue and White, while Alessandrine added three hits for Monmouth. Jordan McCrum (Dallas, PA/Dallas Senior) picked up his first career win with two innings, allowing one run on one hit with two strikeouts. Joe Molettiere (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) allowed just an unearned run in 1.2 innings after Frank Trimarco (Merrick, NY/Sanford H. Calhoun) started and gave up five runs on eight hits, striking out six.
John Leiter struck out 12 in six innings for Saint Peter's, taking a no decision with Michael Ammerman suffering the loss.
The teams play a doubleheader Sunday with first pitch scheduled for noon in Jersey City, NJ.
