WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University Baseball (25-26-1, 12-10) hit three home runs, and Rob Hensey (Campbell Hall, NY/Goshen) made it stand up with seven shutout innings as the Hawks topped Rider University (16-35, 7-15) on Thursday, 12-0.

Clay Koniencki (Schwenksville, PA/Malvern Prep) got the Hawks going early, when MU got the first two aboard in the first before the senior launched his team-leading eighth home run of the season to make it 3-0. JD Andreessen (Depew, NY/Lancaster/Campbell) dropped a base hit into left in the third to score a fourth and MU talled two more in the inning on a pair of errors to take a 6-0 lead. In that time, Hensey settled in and ultimately worked five 1-2-3 innings.

Danny Long (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) tucked a three-run homer inside the foul pole in the fifth to make it 9-0, and Colin McCreary (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) laced a single back through the box to make it an even 10. Zach Schild (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) capped the scoring in the eighth with a laser of a home run to make it 12-0.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"Early in the year we talked about getting back to .500 and getting back in the hunt. We could have been negative and uptight but that was our target and we finally got there last weekend. Now we're two games over .500 in conference. When you get great pitching like that it's a great thing to have. Hensey's been getting better every week, there's not a guy in our program that works harder than Rob. He just keeps getting better and he's going to have a great future here." – Head Coach Dean Ehehalt

-Monmouth extends its season-long winning streak to seven.
-It marked Monmouth's third shutout of the season and second in MAAC play.
-Hawks pitching gave up three hits or less for the third time this season.
-Rob Hensey tied for the team lead in wins with four.
-Clay Koniencki moved into the top-five in the MAAC with his team-high eighth home run.
-Colin McCreary notched his second career three-hit day.
-Eight of the nine Hawks in the starting lineup scored a run.
-Zach Schild's home run put him in the team lead with 32 RBI's.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU outhit Rider 13-3.
-The Broncs made all four of the games' errors.
-The teams combined to leave just eight runners on base.
-Rob Hensey earned his fourth win with seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk with five K's.
-Michael Dimino tossed two scoreless innings with just one hit allowed.
-Vincent Vitacco took the loss for Rider with nine runs allowed, seven earned in 4.1 innings.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth concludes the regular season tomorrow at noon on ESPN+, taking on Rider in a doubleheader.