WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth University Baseball (16-8, 16-8 MAAC) picked up its sixth shutout of the season in the final game of the series, topping Marist College (10-6, 10-6 MAAC) 8-0 after falling late to the Red Foxes in the opener, 2-1. Rob Hensey (Campbell Hall, NY/Goshen) tossed seven shutout innings, while Alex Barker (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy) and Joey Ventresca (Little Egg Harbor, NJ/Pinelands Regional) homered in the win to pick up the series win.
 
In the opener, Barker threw 5.2 shutout innings and MU gave him the lead in the second, stringing together a Dennis Filipovski (Ormond Beach, FL/Seabreeze/St. Petersburg College) double with a Zach Schild (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) RBI single to take a 1-0 edge. In the final inning, Marist put the first two on via a walk and a bunt single before a wild pitch made it second and third with no out. Ryan Steckline (Newark, DE/Appoquinimink) rebounded to fan two in a row before Ben McNeill's single scored two to put Marist in front. MU got the tying run to third in the bottom half but couldn't convert, with the Red Foxes taking the third game of the series.
 
Hensey was excellent again in the nightcap, firing seven shutout innings with four strikeouts. Johnny Zega (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) got MU on the board with an RBI single up the middle in the third before Barker hit his team-leading sixth homer of the year in the fifth to make it 3-0. MU tacked on another in the inning to lead 4-0, and broke it open in the sixth. With two on, Ventresca came off the bench as a pinch hitter and crushed his first home run, a three-run blast to make it 7-0. Matt Graber (Newton, MA/Dexter) drove a single to left to make it 8-0 in the seventh, and Danny Long (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) tossed two spotless innings to lock it down.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
 
"We will always take a series win, especially against good teams. Our guys played hard and competed well all weekend. Today's series finale was a good test of our resiliency, especially after a tough first game. We responded well. We pitched well all day and got the bats going in the second game. Hensey threw well in the second game, he scattered some hits and needed to pitch out of a few jams.  Long, Barker and Steckline also pitched well. Matt Graber made a play early in the game when he threw out a hitter trying to leg out a double, which gave us some life early in the game. We had some good at bats in game two, with Barker and Ventresca hitting some big homers. Alex padded the lead and allowed us to get some breathing room and Joey had a big hit to stake us to a nice lead. We are getting better and look forward to the stretch drive of the regular season." – Head Coach Dean Ehehalt
 



-Monmouth has now won four of six series this year, only losing one with one split.
-The win marked MU's sixth shutout of the year.
-In his fourth start of the year, Matt Graber added two hits.
-Rob Hensey's seven shutout innings lowered his season ERA to 1.05.
-Hensey has not allowed a run in three of his four starts this year, going 6+ innings in all three.
-Barker's six home runs are the most on the Hawks and are tied for second in the MAAC.
-Ventresca's homer was the first of his career.
-Dixon Black put up the sixth multi-hit game of his freshman campaign.
-Monmouth allowed just five runs in total in the four-game series.
-In the opener, Dennis Filipovski posted his second multi-hit game of the season and fifth of his MU career.
-MU's 16 wins are tied for third most in the MAAC with Rider, one back of Niagara in second.
 
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-MU outhit Marist 9-7 in the final game.
-Hensey earned his third win with seven scoreless innings, striking out four.
-Danny Long picked up two K's in two perfect innings in relief.
-Alex Barker threw 5.2 shutout innings with five strikeouts in the first game.
-Ryan Steckline took his first loss of the year in the opener, allowing a pair of runs.
-Erubiel Candelario got the win for Marist in Game One, while Jack Keenan took the Game Two loss.
-Marist used six pitchers in the finale.
 
UP NEXT
-The Hawks are at Jaroschak Field next weekend to take on Saint Peter's, with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon.