WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Alex Barker and Jay Bant homered, and the pitching staff struck out nine as Monmouth University Baseball (14-14, 5-0 MAAC) beat Niagara University (2-22, 0-5 MAAC) 4-3 Saturday afternoon.
 
Dan Klepchick kept Niagara off the board for the first five innings, and got a lead in the fourth when Barker delivered Monmouth's first hit, a long home run to right to make it 1-0. Spencer Marcus' two-run double in the sixth made it a 2-1 Niagara lead, but Bant answered with a home run to right in the seventh to give the Hawks back the lead.
 
Bant worked out a walk in the eighth with the bases full to make it 4-2. Niagara threatened in the ninth, but Ryan Bearse recorded a strikeout and allowed a sacrifice fly before stranding the tying run at third on a ground out.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES

"It is always a good sign when we can win a one run game, they can make or break your season. We were counting on Bearse to close it out and it got interesting at the end; but he made quality pitches when he needed. Klepchick gave us a quality start, Barker bridged it and we played very good defense again today. Offensively, we did enough." – Head Coach Dean Ehehalt
 
-Dan Klepchick moved into third all-time in school history in strikeouts with 222, passing Mike Liloia.
-Alex Barker picked up his first win this season and first since May 9, 2021 at Saint Peter's.
-Jay Bant hit his first career home run at home, and second of his career.
-Alex Barker's homer was his seventh of the season, second most on the team.
-Casey Caufield extended his reached base streak to 24 games, and has now drawn a walk in six straight.
-Ryan Bearse collected his second save of the year.
-MU is the only MAAC team without a loss to this point.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Dan Klepchick struck out eight in 5.2 innings.
-Alex Barker threw 2.1 shutout frames to earn the win.
-Niagara made the games lone error.

UP NEXT
-The teams wrap up the series tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.