FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

April 29, 2001

HAWKS SPLIT DOUBLE HEADER WITH ST. FRANCIS (NY)

West Long Branch, N.J. – The Monmouth Hawks continued Northeast Conference action as they hosted St. Francis College in a twin bill.  The Hawks were victorious in game one, 4-2, for starting pitcher, Enrique Genao, improving his record to 5-1.  It took extra innings to decide the second game, as St. Francis came from behind in the seventh inning to force the extra frame, and won in the end, 11-8.

In game one, Genao went six innings, allowing two runs on two hits and Mike Kelly pitched the seventh to earn his sixth save of the season.   Monmouth took a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning as Jeff Toth drilled a home run with Lance Koenig on base.  The Terriers were able to tie the score in the second, due to two costly Monmouth errors.

The Hawks got a run in the fifth as Koenig lifted a sacrifice fly, scoring Brian Marsh, who led off the inning with a pinch-hit walk.  Monmouth generated another run in the sixth on a successful steal of home by Kelly on a dropped third strike that would have ended the inning.

In game two, Monmouth starter, Tom Botwin was touched up for four runs in the first two innings.  The Terriers put together five hits and capitalized on two Monmouth errors to take the 4-0 lead.  The Hawks were able to tie the score in the second as Kelly started with a one-out triple.  Gismonde (3-3) drove in Kelly with a home run.  After an Ian Magley walk, Greg Landis homered as well, to tie the score.  The Hawks took the lead in the third, as Law homered (his 14th which ties him for the school single-season record).

In the fourth, the Hawks put two more runs on the board on three hits to take a 7-4 advantage, but the Terriers got a run back in the fifth, behind an Anthony Esposito double.  Monmouth pushed the lead back to three in the bottom half of the inning behind a Kelly single, Gismonde double, and St. Martine sacrifice fly.

St. Francis put up three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to tie the score and force extra innings off of relief pitchers Gismonde and Kelly.  Kelly, who allowed three runs on four hits, suffered the loss, dropping his record to 1-2.  The costly blow in the seventh was a single to center field, which was misplayed by Landis, allowing two runs to score.

Kelly allowed three runs and three hits in the eighth, before being lifted in favor of Andrew Palmieri who recorded the final out of the inning.  Monmouth had no answer in the bottom of the inning, dropping the 11-8 decision.

The Hawks return to action on Saturday, May 5th as they travel to Quinnipiac to take on the Braves.  With the split in today’s action, Monmouth’s record stands at 23-21, 14-4 in the NEC.