WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Dixon Black hit the go-ahead home run in the seventh to kickstart a seven-run inning for Monmouth University Baseball (10-13, 1-0 MAAC) on Friday, as the Hawks topped Iona College (0-21, 0-4 MAAC) 9-3 in MU's conference opener.
Trey Dombroski and
Stephen Aldrich combined to strike out 15 Gaels on the afternoon.
After Iona plated two on an infield hit in the opening inning, Dombroski settled in and struck out 10 in his six innings, not allowing another run. MU clawed back for a pair in the second, tying the game on a Black sacrifice fly, and neither team would score until the seventh.
In a tie game, Black launched a 3-1 offering through the wind and over the left field wall to out the Hawks in front. MU exploded from there, with a
Joey Ventresca single plating a run before another came home on an errant pickoff try.
Brady Mutz lined an RBI single to right ahead of
Colin McCreary driving a two-run double to the wall in right to make it 8-2.
Casey Caufield capped the scoring with a lined single to center, making it 9-2.
Aldrich came on in the seventh and allowed one late run in three innings to earn the win, striking out five in the process.
NOTES AND QUOTES
"It was nice to kick off conference play with a win. We capitalized when we needed to and got contributions from many. Trey battled and thus provided us with a chance to score late in the game. I thought Aldrich energized us when he got the first two outs in the 7
th and we were able to generate a big inning in the bottom of the 7
th. We had some good at bats all day and then Dixon staked us to the lead, which jump started us. Looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow." – Head Coach
Dean Ehehalt
-Monmouth won its league opener for the first time since 2019.
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Colin McCreary posted his first multi-hit game of the season.
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Jay Bant notched the first multi-hit game of his career.
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Stephen Aldrich's five strikeouts are a career-high.
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Trey Dombroski posted his third double-digit strikeout game in his last four starts.
-Eight different Hawks had a hit in the game.
NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth outhit Iona 11-10.
-Iona made all four of the errors in the contest.
-Dombroski threw six innings, allowing two runs and fanning 10 with no walks.
-Aldrich earned the win, allowing a run on two hits with no walks and five K's in three innings.
UP NEXT
-Monmouth and Iona continue the series tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
