POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – Monmouth Baseball scored 13 runs en route to a MAAC opening win, before falling late in the second game of a doubleheader at Marist Saturday afternoon. Pete Papcun (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) homered in the first game and Zach Schild (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) added three hits, driving in a pair.

Monmouth leapt to a 6-0 lead in the opener, sparked by Schild's run-scoring single on the infield in the first and capped when Papcun launched a three-run home run in the second. Marist sliced the lead in half in the bottom of the second, with Jordan Roper homering leading off. Anthony Lazar singled in a run, as did Andrew Rouse to make it 6-3 MU. The Hawks' offense remained hot, plating another three in the third, including a two-run single from John LaRocca (Plainview, NY/St. Dominic) to extend the MU lead back to six.

The teams traded pairs of runs in the fifth and sixth, and MU scored single runs in the seventh and eighth to secure the MAAC opening win. Austin Counsellor (Salem, NJ/Woodstown) came on to fire 4.1 strong innings, allowing just a run on three hits to collect his first win of the season.

Shaine Hughes (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) drove in a run with a base hit in the opening inning of the second game, but Marist responded with a Frankie Gregoire sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning before going up 2-1 when Randy Taveras homered. MU regained the lead in the fifth, when three straight hits tied the game and JD Andreessen (Depew, NY/Lancaster) successfully executed a squeeze play to make it 3-2 Monmouth.

Tyler Kapuscinski's run-scoring single in the fifth tied the game, and Lazar knocked a two-run single in the sixth to give Marist the 5-3 lead, the eventual final.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"In Game One, we got some breaks early and took advantage of them.  Our lineup did an outstanding job of creating opportunities.  We were able to somewhat get control of the game early with some clutch hitting and the ability to pitch out of trouble." – Dean Ehehalt
 
"In Game Two, we competed but we were unable to get the big hit against a real good pitcher.  Things certainly didn't go our way, but we had a chance to win at the end. We look forward to getting back at it tomorrow." – Ehehalt

-MU is now a perfect 5-0 in MAAC openers.
-The top six players in Monmouth's order in the first game all recorded multiple hits.
-Zach Schild now has a hit in 14 consecutive starts, and posted his second career three-hit game.
-Austin Counsellor picked up his first career win in the first game.
-Kyle Norman ran his games reached base streak to 17.
-John LaRocca drove in three runs for the first time in his career.
-MU did not make an error on the day.
-Joe Molettiere suffered the loss in the second game, with Marist's Charlie Jerla earning the win and Mike Coss collecting the save.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Kyle Norman extended his average to .387 on the day.
-Monmouth is now 5-12, and 1-1 in the MAAC. Marist is 6-11, 1-1 in league play.
-Austin Counsellor allowed just one run in 4.1 relief innings to earn a win.
-Monmouth outhit Marist in each game.

UP NEXT
-The teams wrap up a three-game set tomorrow at noon in Poughkeepsie.