April 30, 2006

Box Score

BRIDGEPORT, CT - Bobby McKee (Massapequa, NY) got his only hit of the game in the tenth inning and scored the winning run when a flyball was dropped by the center fielder to help the Sacred Heart University baseball team escape with a 5-4 win over Monmouth University in a Northeast Conference game Sunday afternoon. The win gives the Pioneers two wins in the three-game weekend series.

Monmouth, 26-13 overall and 13-2 in the NEC, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning of SHU starter Chris Howard (Ghent, NY). Pat Sullivan led off the inning for the Hawks with a double to right. He went to second on a ground ball and scored on a Howard wild pitch.

Sacred Heart, 18-23 overall and 10-7 in the conference, got the run back in the bottom of the inning. DH Josh Enos (Paulsboro, NJ) led off the frame with a double and scored on a one-out double by Jeff Hanson (Woodstock, NY).

The Pioneers took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, scoring an unearned run off Monmouth starter Joe Cummings. Rob Tencza (Meriden, CT) led off the inning with a single and went to third on an error by the Monmouth third baseman with one out. He scored on a single to left by Dave Kaloyanides (Reading, MA) with two outs.

SHU made it 4-1 in the seventh inning with a pair of runs and a little help from the Monmouth defense. Tencza walked to start the inning and went to second when Tony Diaz (Middletown, NY) followed with a single to center. Jamie Morales then laid down a sacrifice bunt that was misplayed by Cummings and the bases were loaded. Kaloyanides drove home one with a fielder's choice grounder up the middle and Pete Kandybowicz did the same to score Diaz.

Howard hit Monmouth's Nick Massari to lead off the eighth inning. Mike Hussa sacrificed him to second and an error by Tencza on a ball hit to short by Sullivan allowed him to score. SHU coach Nick Giaquinto lifted Howard in favor of reliever George Lamar (Briarcliff, NY) to face the left-hand hitting Andy Meyers. Lamar retired him on a grounder to first on the first pitch and then got Marc Weres to fly to center on the next pitch and retire the side, with the Pioneers clinging to a 4-2 lead.

In the ninth, Lamar gave up a leadoff single to Rick Niederhaus. He got Chris Collazo to line to short, but then yielded a single to pinch hitter Mike Casale to put runners on first and second. Tencza came in from short to pitch for the Pioneers but gave up back-to-back hits to Kyle Messineo and Massari, the second of which drove home two runs and tied the score.

Kevin Schneider threw a scoreless ninth inning for the Hawks, and Hanson moved from first to the mound for the Pioneers and threw a scoreless top of the tenth. In the bottom of the frame, McKee got an infield hit to second base with one out. Senior Dan Garcia (Nanuet, NY) singled as a pinch hitter to put runners on first and second. Schneider retired Jason Maiella on a ground out that allowed both runners to advance. Schneider got ahead of Hanson 0-2 with two outs, but the sophomore worked the count and fouled off several pitches. He finally lifted a ball very high to center field. Sullivan raced in and put his glove in front of his face to fight the sun and high sky. The ball deflected off his glove and fell to the ground to allow McKee to score with the winning run.

Hanson was credited with the win to raise his season mark to 3-3. Howard threw 7 1/3 strong innings in the start, allowing just one earned run and striking out five.