NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY – Monmouth got seven shutout innings from Ricky Dennis (Warrington, PA/Central Bucks South) and four hits from Kyle Norman (Ellicott City, MD/Good Counsel/Buffalo) in the first game before two Hawks homered in the second to propel the Blue and White to a pair of wins at Niagara on Saturday, 6-1 and 8-5.

Johnny Zega (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) jumpstarted his big day with a second inning triple to get MU on the board after he scored on a sacrifice fly. MU got another run in the fifth and JP Walsh (Spring Brook Township, PA/North Pocono) hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to make it 3-0 Hawks. In that stretch, Dennis posted four 1-2-3 innings and allowed just one runner to reach second base before rolling up a double play ball. In the seventh, freshman Nick Campana (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown West) came through with the big blow, a two-run single to left to extend the Hawks' lead to 5-0.

Two Monmouth errors in the eighth loaded the bases for Niagara with nobody out, but Austin Counsellor got two ground balls and a line out to limit the damage to one run, which MU would get back in the ninth on Norman's infield single. Niagara couldn't get anything going in the ninth as MU held on to win the opener 6-1.

The Blue and White immediately leapt to a 3-0 lead in the second game, with Shaine Hughes (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) singling home a run and Zega later hitting a two-run double to get the Hawks out front early.

Niagara threatened in the third, ultimately cutting the MU lead to 3-2. The Purple Eagles put the first four runners aboard, with Greg Cullen singling a run home. Mike Brambilla (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East) came in the game and got two fly balls, the second turning into a double play as a runner was cut down at the plate.

Monmouth got those two runs back immediately, as Walsh was hit by a pitch and scored on Justin Trochiano's (Morganville, NJ/Marlboro) triple. Hughes followed that two batters later with an RBI double into the gap, making it 5-2 MU. The lead grew to 6-2 when JD Andreessen (Depew, NY/Lancaster/Campbell) led off the fifth with a solo home run.

In a 6-3 game, Walsh launched his first career home run with one out in the seventh to extend Monmouth's lead. Niagara pieced together three hits in their final at bat but the Hawks shut the door to sweep the day, winning the second game 8-5.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"All in all a great day for us. We have been working hard in practice and the guys are excited to play in some decent weather. Today we had had contributions from so many players, so it was a solid day for us for sure.  Credit to Coach Kirkpatrick for getting our guys to execute their pitches in big spots and piecing together the use of our bullpen. We look forward to getting back out there tomorrow." – Dean Ehehalt on the play today

"Ricky was the story.  He was able to get us deep in the game; made two huge pitches to get out of two jams.  The strikeout with the bases loaded was a key, he was really dialed in today.  Offensively we were able to manufacture a few early and then Campana delivered a clutch base hit. Kyle Norman had a huge game at the plate for us as well." – Ehehalt on Game One

"We were able to get some keys hits and battled our way through the middle of the game. We escaped the third inning only giving up two runs and that allowed us to navigate through a tough inning and keep the lead. Johnny Zega made a great play on a pop up in foul ground and then threw the runner out at home that got us out of that jam.  A few big hits from Trochiano, Shaine, JD and JP were instrumental for us.  Kyle Ajjan gave us two solid innings out of the pen and it was nice to see Joe Molettiere back out there." – Ehehalt on Game Two

-Danny Long led off for the first time in his career, finishing the day with two hits and three runs scored at the top of the order.
-Kyle Norman posted Monmouth's second four-hit game of the season (Norman also had five hits vs. UMBC).
-Johnny Zega had three hits on the day, all for extra bases.
-JP Walsh has now had a hit in six of his last seven starts.
-Walsh hit his first career home run.
-Justin Trochiano is now tied for the MAAC lead with three triples.
-Ricky Dennis turned in his second straight seven-inning outing, winning his fourth game to tie for fourth in the league.
-Shaine Hughes had three hits in the second game, his team-leading 13^th multi-hit game of the year and fourth three-hit game of the season.
-Joe Molettiere picked up his first save of the year and fifth career save.
-Kyle Ajjan earned his second win of the year.
-Monmouth has now swept a doubleheader in two straight weekends.
-Dennis did not allow a leadoff man to reach all day.
-MU scored in nine of the 16 innings on the day.

 NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth outhit Niagara 11-10 in the second game after notching 13 hits to Niagara's six in the first game.
-MU pitching totaled just six walks on the day.
-The Hawks improve to 5-6 in the league, while Niagara falls to 4-7.
-Four Monmouth pitchers combined to strike out seven in the second game.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth and Niagara wrap up the series tomorrow at noon.