WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ –Clay Koniencki (Schwenksville, PA/Malvern Prep) knocked a third-inning grand slam and Ryan Lillie (Ocean Township, NJ/Ocean) delivered six shutout innings of relief as Monmouth University Baseball (14-19-1, 4-5) took the decisive third game of a weekend series Sunday, 8-3 over Niagara University (8-23, 3-6).

The Purple Eagles jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first two innings, with Josh Marchese delivering a two-run single with the bases loaded in the first before consecutive triples to right center made it 3-0. The Blue and White got them all back and more on one swing, when Koniencki jumped on a 2-0 offering and launched a grand slam to dead center field. Lillie rolled through the Niagara lineup after that, not allowing a runner past second base and striking out the side in the fourth.

Matt Graber (Newton, MA/Dexter) came through with insurance in the sixth, lining a double to the left field corner after two walks and a sacrifice bunt to score two. A fielder's choice scored two more in the sixth after Niagara threw one to the fence down the first base line, and Mason Miller (Garnet Valley, PA/Garnet Valley) tossed a clean ninth to secure the victory.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"We certainly needed that. We fell down 3-0 early and Lillie came in and changed the energy for us, and gave us a spark. Clay just proved that one swing of the bat gets you back in the game, we were a much different team after that and I was hoping we got a spark. We were fortunate Clay put a good swing on that ball. We were able to add some insurance late after an important sacrifice bunt from Nick Campana, and Matt Graber came through with a big hit." – Head Coach Dean Ehehalt on the MU offense

"Ryan Lillie loves to compete. I think earlier in the year he had some innings where they scored off him, but he continues to challenge himself to go out there and be a dominant guy at this level. He's a tremendous competitor and he does a great job of keeping teams off balance." – Ehehalt on Ryan Lillie's outing

"This was huge, especially after last weekend getting swept against Marist. We played well, but we just didn't get any results. We're just trying to stay afloat, win series and get healthy, those are our goals so it was a huge day for us and hopefully we can build off it." – Ehehalt

-Monmouth has now won two of three MAAC series this season.
-Clay Koniencki hit Monmouth's second grand slam of the season, and first since JP Walsh on March 30 at Saint Peter's.
-Koniencki homered in two of the three games in the weekend series, and is on a five-game hitting streak.
-Ryan Lillie's six innings was the longest relief outing by a Hawk this season.
-Lillie earns his second win, the second MU reliever with multiple wins this season.
-Matt Graber posted his second multi-RBI game of the year.
-Mason Miller tossed his sixth scoreless outing of the season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Lillie earned the win, allowing just four hits in six shutout relief innings.
-MU was outhit 10-6 on the afternoon.
-The Hawks limited Niagara to .182 (2-11) with runners in scoring position.
-Tyler Howard took the loss for Niagara, allowing six runs with eight walks on two hits through 5.1 innings.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth hosts Seton Hall on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN3.