WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Monmouth University baseball team scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to break open a tie game and held off a ninth inning rally for a 10-8 win over Towson University in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play on Sunday.
 
The Hawks won their fourth straight game and improve to 14-4 in CAA play. 
 
Monmouth used a three-run home run from Nick Lovarco to take a lead after one inning.
 
Towson cut into the lead with a home run to lead off the second inning. The Hawks responded with a solo home run from Jake Howlett in their half of the frame and pushed the lead to 4-1.
 
Towson tied things up with three runs in the top of the third. 
 
The Hawks retook the lead in the top of the third. RJ Mustaro had a sac fly that plated Simmi Whitehill. An error on the play also allowed Lovarco to score and made it a 6-4 game. 
 
Towson cut the lead to 6-5 in the top of the fourth on a solo home run. 
 
A wild pitch allowed Towson to tie the game at 6-6 in the top of the seventh.
 
RBI singles from Whitehill and Brendan Buecker and a two-run double Lovarco put the Hawks on top 10-6 in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Towson scored two runs with two outs in the top of the ninth and made it a 10-8 game. Monmouth's David Horvath was able to get a pop-up for the final out and ended the threat.
 
Notes

• Monmouth extended its current win streak to four straight matches. It's the third win streak of at least four games for the Hawks this season. 
• The Hawks swept Towson for the second time this season and extended their current win streak against the Tigers to eight straight games. 
• It was the Hawks' third conference series sweep of the season (Towson-twice, Elon). It's the first time since 2018 that the Hawks have swept three conference series in the same season.
• Simmi Whitehill reached base via a walk in the first inning and has now reached base safely in 32 straight games. 
• Chris Walsh was hit by a pitch in the first inning and stretched his reached base safely streak to 26 straight games.
• The Hawks scored 10 runs in the game. The Hawks moved to 8-1 on the year when they score 10 or more runs. 
• Nick Lovarco had a game-high five RBIs in the game. It is tied for the most RBIs by a Hawk this season, both have come against Towson (Lovarco, Aidan Bretschneider).
• The Hawks were hit by a pitch four times in the contest. It is the eighth time this season the Hawks have been hit by a pitch at least four times.
• Making his second appearance of the weekend, Kevin Opanel threw two innings of relief and earned his team-leading fourth win of the year. He allowed one run on one hit.
• Cory Pascarella, who started for the Hawks, matched his career-high with five strikeouts. 

Up Next

• The Hawks return to action on Tuesday, Apr. 14 when they host NJIT at 3 p.m.