WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – The Monmouth baseball team (26-21) scored five runs in the second inning and topped Stetson (24-24) Monday afternoon, 7-4 in a non-conference matchup. Pete Papcun (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) homered and drove in three and Dan Shea (Wilmington, DE/Salesianum) had three RBI's in the win.
Chris Gaetano (Madison Township, PA/Scranton Prepatory) reached on a throwing error before Papcun lifted his fourth home run of the year to left field, giving Monmouth a 2-0 lead. Back-to-back singles from Aidan Favia (Short Hills, NJ/Millburn) and Clay Koniencki (Schwenksville, PA/Malvern Prep) put runners on the corners, and Grant Lamberton (Newark, DE/Salesianum) walked to fill the bases. Robbie Alessandrine (Sewell, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) beat out a single to shortstop, and Shea dropped a two-run single into short center field to cap the five-run frame.
Stetson scored single runs in the first and fourth, getting the first on a Cory Reid sacrifice fly. In the fourth, Vance Vizcaino beat out a potential double play ball that allowed another run to score.
The Hatters cut it to one in the seventh, plating a pair on Charlie Watters' RBI double and Austin Hale's run-scoring double to left center to trim the MU lead to 5-4. Monmouth answered immediately in the bottom of the inning, getting a Shea single back through the box to score Lamberton and a Papcun sacrifice fly to bring in Alessandrine.
Tyler Ksiazek (South Abington Township, PA/Abington Heights) delivered 5.1 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on seven hits with three strikeouts. Justin Andrews (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy) came on for two shutout innings to earn his fifth save of the year, while the offense was led by Papcun and Shea's six total RBI's. Koniencki also had two hits for the Blue and White.
Adam Schaly took the loss for Stetson, working six innings and allowing five runs, one earned, on seven hits. Hale added three hits for the Hatters.
MU returns to the diamond tomorrow on the road to take on Saint Joseph's at 3:00 p.m.
