Montclair State University baseball split a doubleheader against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Friday afternoon.
Sophomore pitcher Evan Wood got the start for Montclair State in game one, which made it his fourth of the season.
MIT got two runs in the first inning, and the Red Hawks would struggle early and didn’t do much offensively, as the Engineers got a quick three and out.
An RBI single for MIT in the second inning made it a 3-0 game.
In the third inning, after some miscommunication between Montclair State off of a fly ball to short center field caused runners to be on first and second base.
Wood’s day would come to an end after that, and the switch a pitching would come in for the Red Hawks as graduate Tyler Cirone came and did as much as he could to finish the inning, but MIT were now up 4-0 following an RBI single.
MIT got up 6-0 following off a homer, but in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Red Hawks finally got on the board with an RBI single by junior first baseman Matt Kaliske to give Montclair State their first run of the day.
Another RBI single for the Red Hawks followed after a sacrifice fly from designated hitter Miles Feaster. That set up second baseman Joe Gisonda to run home bringing the score to 6-2.
Graduate student Sam Angelo during an at bat against Trinity College. Matt Deluca | The Montclarion
MIT answered once again with an RBI single in the sixth inning to bring the lead back to five.
Bottom of the sixth, Jason Moore reached on fielder’s choice to right field for an RBI and gave Matt Shuet a run to home base to bring the score 7-3.
The Red Hawks could not do much for two straight innings, and MIT got a RBI double in the eighth inning to bring their lead to 9-3.
The Red Hawks would do their best to try and crawl back into the game with a Sam Angelo homer to right center field but the damage was already done. MIT took game one 9-4.
“We could’ve came out better offensively,” sophomore catcher Zach Stearns said. “And we were just trying to forget that first game.”
Angelo’s homer was his ninth in nine games, but unfortunately Montclair State lost game one of the double header.
Sophomore pitcher Michael Timberlake got the start in game two. Timberlake has been playing great to start the season. He had 34 strikeouts already, surpassing from the previous year of 33 and has an ERA at 0.63 this season.
Timberlake stole the show and had a great display of pitching, putting up six strikeouts through four innings.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, a Moore sacrifice fly to right center field allowed Johnson to score and gave the Red Hawks their first lead of the day.
The runs kept on coming in the bottom of the 6th, as Gisonda’s next hit went up the middle and got an RBI double to bring McKenna and Feaster home, stretching Montclair State’s lead to 3-0.
The Red Hawks got hot late in the seventh inning. An RBI double by sophomore catcher Zach Stearns gave Montclair State a 5-0 lead. Feaster got an RBI single awarding Stearns to score. The lead was extended to 6-0.
The Red Hawks loaded the bases, and after two straight walk run ins and a Gisonda stolen base after a mishap by the MIT catcher, the game was now 9-0 for Montclair State.
Stearns said that after resetting in the locker room in between games, the team came out ready to hit for game two.
“We had a talk in the locker room,” Stearns said. “[We] put better offense at bats and what we did, nine runs is great.”
After MIT rallied with five runs in the next inning and added a sixth in the top of the ninth, pitcher Michael Todaro was able to seal the deal and secure the Red Hawks’ victory in game two.
The Red Hawks are 14-3, and are continuing to play some of the best baseball this team has ever seen.
Stearns said that everything seems to be coming together nicely at this point in the season.
“It’s just one game at a time, we have the same guys and it’s all flowing,” Stearns said. “Older guys are treating the younger guys well. I think everything is clicking well.”
