JERSEY CITY, NJ – Justin Trochiano (Morganville, NJ/Marlboro) hit his first home run of the year to break an eighth inning tie, and Monmouth pitching did not allow a run after the first inning as the Hawks completed a sweep of Saint Peter's, winning 7-1 Monday. The Blue and White have now swept three MAAC series in a row.
The Peacocks got on the board in the opening inning to take a 1-0 lead, collecting three base hits in the frame. With two on and one out, Jared Quintero singled to plate the game's opening run. Monmouth responded to tie the game in the third after
John LaRocca (Plainview, NY/St. Dominic) hustled out a double leading off. After a walk, both runners were bunted over and
Danny Long (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) grounded out to tie the game.
Jordan McCrum (Dallas, PA/Dallas Senior) ripped off four scoreless innings, striking out five in the process to keep the game at 1-1. In the eighth with two away, Trochiano hooked his first home run of the year inside the left field foul pole to make it 2-1 Hawks.
MU added five runs in the ninth inning, with
Shaine Hughes (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) reaching to open the inning. A bunt single for
Kyle Norman (Ellicott City, MD/Good Counsel/Buffalo) and a walk filled the bases before an error and a sac fly made it 4-1.
Pete Papcun (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) came through with a two-run double off the wall in left to extend the MU lead to 7-1 before
Austin Counsellor (Salem, NJ/Woodstown/Gloucester CC) notched his fourth save.
NOTES AND QUOTES
"We pitched well and we certainly needed to.
James Kelly came out and did what we needed him to do before Jordan came in and gave us a spark. He kept the game manageable and we were able to break it open late. Counsellor and
Joe Molettiere were both great." –
Dean Ehehalt
"Their pitcher threw a great game, we were hitting a lot of balls off the barrel right at guys and had nothing to show for it. We were unable to put any pressure on them. I thought the ability to stay positive throughout the game before we were able to put up five in the ninth was a good thing." – Ehehalt
-Monmouth has swept three consecutive MAAC weekends, winning nine in a row in conference play.
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Joe Molettiere picked up his first win of the season with a scoreless inning in relief.
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Jordan McCrum struck out five, a season high, in his longest relief outing of the year of four innings.
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Justin Trochiano hit his first home run since March 20, 2016 at East Carolina.
-Trochiano's homer was his first in MAAC play since May 14, 2015 at Rider as a freshman, which also broke a tie late in the game (9
th inning).
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Danny Long had his streak of 22 consecutive games reaching base snapped.
-Monmouth is now in a three-way tie for second place in the MAAC at 12-6 with six games remaining.
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Austin Counsellor is now fifth in the MAAC alone in saves with four.
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Pete Papcun collected his first extra base hit since April 7 at Quinnipiac.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Joe Albunia took his sixth loss for the Peacocks.
-Cole Robbins led SPU with three hits on the day.
-SPU outhit Monmouth 12-5.
-Monmouth improves to 23-21, 12-6 in MAAC play.
UP NEXT
-Monmouth is back to non-conference action tomorrow when they head to Hofstra at 3:00 pm.
