HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 26, 2017) – Senior
Harrison Kaye went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs, but the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team was unable to overcome an early five-run deficit and fell to Montclair State University Wednesday in a non-conference game at Dobbelaar Baseball Field.
Junior
Alex Detweiler continued his breakout campaign with four hits, but the Ducks suffered their third straight setback to fall to 16-19-1.
Ryan Long homered and drove in three runs for the Red Hawks, who improved to 14-19 on the season.
Entering the final inning down four runs, Stevens brought the tying run to the plate against Mark Leyble.
Carlos Leon led off with a walk and moved to second on
Garrett Wells' groundout. The speedy infielder stole third and scored on Kaye's RBI single. Senior
Michael Mule' singled to move Kaye to second, but Leyble struck out Detweiler and retired
Donny Gherardi on a grounder to short to end the inning.
Montclair State hung on for the victory after scoring in each of the first six innings, in building a 14-10 lead. The guests built leads of 5-2, 12-7 and 14-7, but the resilient Stevens bats kept chipping away at the deficits. The teams combined for 22 runs over the first five innings.
Making his first career start,
Bridger Cohen (0-1) immediately ran into trouble in the opening inning. Long led off with a walk and promptly stole second. Cohen would buckle down and strike out Connor Kelly and get Joe Foote to ground out, but Ryan Thieme calmly dropped a single in front of Mule' to give Montclair the lead.
Cohen didn't fare any better in the second. Michael Muentener singled to right and moved to third base when Cohen's pickoff attempt sailed past Detweiler. Jimmy Fasano plated the centerfielder with a grounder to second. Dom Lampasona walked, prompting a pitching change.
Ryan Larsen relieved Cohen and Chris Winters reached on a slow-rolling ball down the third base line to advance the runner. Long followed and connected on a Larsen offering to push the visitor's lead to five.
Stevens got on the board in the second inning. Senior
P.J. Wiegartner led the frame off with his first home run of the year. Leon and Wells worked back-to-back walks off Montclair starter Jay Gorman. After a double steal, Kaye drove in a run with a groundout for the second run of the frame. Mule' had a chance to do further damage but struck out swinging.
Montclair State appeared to break the game open in the third, erupting for five, two-out runs against Larsen and
William Korosec. Four of the five runs came after Larsen's throwing error after fielding Winters' comebacker.
The Ducks scored five runs in their half of the third to jump right back into the game. Detweiler's home run began the rally. Gherardi reached on a throwing error by Fasano. Walters connected for a ground-rule double to left center and moved to third on a passed ball. Wiegartner struck out and
Patrick Rood reached on Montclair's second error of the inning. Max Maarleveld (2-1) relieved Gorman and allowed Wells' sacrifice fly and Kaye's RBI single but got out of the inning without any additional damage. Maarleveled pitched a scoreless fourth and fifth to earn the victory.
Up Next: The Ducks will welcome No. 22/No. 15 St. John Fisher to Hoboken for the first two games of their pivotal Empire 8 series on Saturday. The doubleheader will also feature Stevens Baseball's Fifth Annual Birthplace of Baseball Classic, which will include a 2-inning scrimmage by the Hoboken 9 Vintage Baseball Team. Fans will enjoy free Cracker Jacks and beverages while supplies last. First pitch for game one is at 12:00 pm.
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