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Tournament Schedule:
Double Elimination Tournament
1st Round
Friday, May 7
Game 1: #1 Monmouth 8, #4 St. Francis (NY) 3
Game 2: #3 Central Connecticut State 9, #2 Fairleigh DIckinson 4
Saturday's games were rained out and rescheduled for Sunday.
Semifinals/Loser Bracket
Sunday, May 9
Game 3: Fairleigh Dickinson 25, St. Francis (NY) 7
Game 4: Monmouth 2, Central Connecticut State 1
Game 5: Fairleigh Dickinson 7, Central Connecticut State 1
Championship
Monday, May 10
Game 6: Monmouth 7, Fairleigh Dickinson 6
Tournament Most Valuable Player
Mike Benfield (So, P, Laurel Springs, NJ/Triton)
Benefield earns Tournament MVP honors after allowing just two earned runs and striking out ten over 10 2/3 innings. Benfield earned the win in the Hawks' 8-3 opening round in over St. Francis (NY), tossing 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. He did not allow a hit and struck out seven. Benfield came back two days later to pitch six innings of six hit ball in the championship game win over Fairleigh Dickinson. The southpaw gave up two runs and struck out three. His ERA for the tournament was a sparkling 1.69.
Northeast Conference Baseball Championships
Game Recaps
Game 1 - Monmouth 8, St. Francis (NY) 3
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Bridgeport, Conn. – Chris Montenegro led top-seeded Monmouth (24-22) with two RBI’s and two hits to lead the Hawks to an 8-3 victory over fourth-seeded Saint Francis N.Y. (18-29) in game one of the Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament Friday afternoon at HarborYard Stadium. Monmouth advances to the winner’s bracket game at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, while SFNY plays in the elimination game at 12:30 p.m.
Monmouth jumped to a 3-0 lead after three innings of action before SFNY got on the scoreboard in the fourth, 3-1. Monmouth answered with three runs in the bottom of the third as David Santana (Somerdale, N.J.) singled to centerfield, bringing in Tom Ambrose (Runnemede, N.J.). SFNY cut the lead, 6-3, in the top of the fifth. Charlie Krajewski (Secaucus, N.J.) hit one batter and walked two before being replaced by Mike Benfield (Laurel Springs, N.J.). The Terriers scored its second run of the inning on a Benfield walk.
Monmouth added two in the sixth, advancing to an 8-3 lead and held the Terriers scoreless through the final three innings. Benfield (7-4) grabbed the win on the mound while fanning seven in 4.2 innings of play. Santino Sarrica (Brooklyn, N.Y.) recorded the loss for SFNY in 6.0 innings and falls to a 5-6 record. Kasey Koslowki (Jamaica, N.Y.) led the Terriers with the squad’s only two hits.
Game 2 - Central Connecticut State 9, Fairleigh Dickinson 4
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Bridgeport, Conn. – Jason Moule (Sr., Berlin, Conn.) and Ryan Holleran (Fr., Danbury, Conn.) each collected two hits as Central Connecticut State defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 9-4, in game two of the Northeast Conference Baseball Championships Friday afternoon at HarborYard Stadium.
The Blue Devils (22-20-1) advance to Saturday’s winners’ bracket contest to face Monmouth at 4:00 p.m. FDU (20-23) and St. Francis (N.Y.) will meet in the losers’ bracket game at 12:30 p.m. Monmouth defeated St. Francis, 8-3, in game one on Friday.
The game was sloppily played, as it featured nine errors between the two teams. Central Connecticut got on the board with a bases-loaded walk in the third inning and then added four runs in the fifth complete with four Knights errors in the frame.
FDU got on the board in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs. David Arroyo (Jr., Belford, N.J.) drove in two runs with a single to cut the CCSU advantage to 5-2.
Central Connecticut added single runs in the sixth and seventh and tacked on two in the eighth to take a 9-2 lead before closing out the 9-4 victory.
Six different players drove in runs for the Blue Devils.
Adam Poturnicki (Sr., Middlefield, Conn.) improved to 9-3 on the season to earn the win for CCSU. FDU’s George Hinchcliff (Jr., Cornwall, N.Y.) (8-2) took the loss.
Game 3 - Fairleigh Dickinson 25, St. Francis (NY) 7
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Bridgeport, Conn. – Second-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson set a Northeast Conference tournament record for runs in a game as the Knights blasted fourth-seeded St. Francis (N.Y.), 25-7, in a NEC Baseball Tournament elimination game, Sunday afternoon at HarborYard Stadium.
FDU (21-23) advances to game five on Sunday evening to face the loser of game four, which pits third-seeded Central Connecticut State against top-seeded Monmouth. St. Francis (18-30) is eliminated from the tournament.
The 25 runs by the Knights topped the old record set by Rider in a 20-6 win over Wagner in 1997. FDU and St. Francis also set the record for most runs by two teams in a NEC Tournament game. St. Francis (N.Y.) and Long Island combined to score 27 runs in a game back in 1995.
With Fairleigh Dickinson already leading, 10-0, entering the bottom of the sixth inning, the Knights sent 17 batters to the plate and scored 11 runs to take a 21-0 lead. FDU opened the contest with six runs in the first inning and was never threatened for the rest of the contest.
David Arroyo led FDU with a 5-for-7 performance with a home run, five runs batted in and three runs scored. Mark Zielinski and Andrew Pagano each chipped in with four hits a piece. Paul Esposito added three hits for the Knights.
Kasey Koslowski and Edgar Ortega each belted home runs for the Terriers. Keith Soto led St. Francis with three hits.
FDU’s Michael Wassong improved to 3-2 on the season with the victory, while Joe Lankford took the loss for St. Francis, as he fell to 6-5.
Game 4 - Monmouth 2, Central Connecticut State 1
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Bridgeport, Conn. – Dan Severino and Brian Gismonde combined to allow just five hits and an earned run as top-seeded Monmouth defeated third-seeded Central Connecticut State, 2-1, Sunday afternoon in a winners’ bracket contest in the Northeast Conference Baseball Championships at HarborYard Stadium.
Monmouth (25-22) advances to the championship game on Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. against the winner of Sunday evening’s elimination contest pitting second-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson and Central Connecticut State (22-21-1).
Severino allowed just four hits and the earned run in six innings of work. The Blue Devils took a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the fourth, as Rob Baher opened the inning with a single. He later scored on a Ryan Holleran infield single for the initial lead.
The Hawks tied the game in the seventh as Paul Grasso doubled home Dan Coia. The winning run came an inning later, as Coia singled home Chirs Montenegro.
Gismonde (4-1 on the season) pitched three innings of one-hit relief to earn the victory for the Hawks. Scott Martin (6-5) took the loss for the Blue Devils. He pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and both earned runs.
Game 5 - Fairleigh Dickinson 7, Central Connecticut State 1
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Bridgeport, Conn. – Tim McKenna allowed four hits and an earned run in cruising to a complete game win as Fairleigh Dickinson defeated Central Connecticut State, 7-1, Sunday evening in a Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament elimination game at HarborYard Stadium.
The Knights (22-23) advance to the NEC Championship on Monday morning to take on Monmouth at 10:30 a.m. FDU must defeat Monmouth twice to take the league championship, since Monmouth is yet to lose in the double elimination tourney. Central Connecticut State’s season concludes with a 22-22-1 record.
With the game tied at 1-1, FDU took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Paul Esposito drove in a pair of runs with a single and Justin Loughran added a RBI-single to give the Knights a 4-1 lead.
FDU also added three more runs in the seventh. Jeff Karpell drove in two runs with a triple and Rob DeFabbia brought home another with a sacrifice fly. Karpell set program career records during the game with his 143rd career run batted in and his 560th at-bat. He already set the school record for career hits earlier in the season.
David Arroyo, Sean McLaughlin and Michael Nazzaretto all had two hits a piece for the Knights.
McKenna improved to 3-6 on the season with the victory. David Yanosy (4-4) took the loss for Central Connecticut, allowing seven runs and four hits.
Game 6 - Monmouth 7, Fairleigh Dickinson 6
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Bridgeport, Conn. – David Santana (Sr., Somerdale, N.J.) hit a two-run single to cap a four-run eighth inning, as Monmouth (26-22) rallied for a 7-6 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson (22-24) in the championship game of the Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament at HarborYard Stadium on Monday afternoon.
Santana drove in Dan Coia (Jr., Buena, N.J.) and Jeff Toth (So., Beachwood, N.J.). With the victory, Monmouth earned its second consecutive Northeast Conference title and will represent the league in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship for the second straight year.
Fairleigh Dickinson rallied from a 3-0 deficit with two runs in the top half of the sixth inning and four in the seventh. David Arroyo (Jr., Belford, N.J.) singled home Justin Loughran (Sr., Paramus, N.J.) to give the Knights a 4-3 lead. The lead was extended to 6-3 later in the inning when Arroyo scored on a single by Jeff Karpell (Sr., Middletown, N.J.).
Jason Law (Fr., Linwood, N.J.), the Northeast Conference Newcomer of the Year, hit his first two triples of the season in the second and third innings as the Hawks opened a 3-0 advantage. Mike Benfield (So., Laurel Springs, N.J.) shut out the Knights until the sixth inning. Brian Gismonde (5-1) (So., Cherry Hill, N.J.), who pitched three innings to earn the win in Sunday’s 2-1 triumph over Central Connecticut State, allowed four runs (three unearned) in the seventh, but earned the win when the Hawks rallied in the eighth inning.
FDU’s Kevin Clark (So., West Milford, N.J.) (1-5) was charged with the loss in relief.
Benfield was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player. In 10 2/3 innings, Benfield allowed only two earned runs and struck out 13. He had pitched 4 2/3 innings of hitless relief against St. Francis (N.Y.) in the opening game of the tournament, fanning seven. |