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| Five USMMA Mariners combined for a no-hitter over FDU-Florham, winning 9-1. Michael Monkevich, Billy Todd, Grant Corb, Blake Jennings and Kole Register combined for the no-no. USMMA athletics photo |
MADISON, N.J. (March 23, 2022) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy baseball team used five pitchers on Wednesday to no-hit the Devils of FDU-Florham on their home field at the Naimoli Ballpark, picking up a 9-1 victory to improve to 5-9 on the season, while the Devils fell to 11-4 in defeat. It was USMMA's second no-hitter in as many seasons, with the last fired by Joe Raab '21 against Farmingdale State last May.
The combination of freshman starter Michael Monkevich (Gaithersburg, Md.), seniors Billy Todd (Gastonia, N.C.) and Grant Corb (Katy, Texas) and sophomores Blake Jennings (Snellville, Ga.) and Kole Register (Virginia Beach, Va.) held FDU-Florham without a hit over the 27 outs, with the Devils' only run coming in the eighth inning of a 9-0 game on a walk followed by a three-base error on a missed fly ball in right field.
Monkevich earned the win after hurling the first three innings of the pre-determined bullpen day and retiring all nine batters he faced, striking out three. Todd came in for the next two innings, facing eight batters and walking two, before Corb fired a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth.
The unearned run came off of Jennings in his second inning of relief in the eighth, as he only had the one walk allowed, and then Register finished the game in the ninth, facing four batters with one walk and two strikeouts.
Senior Noah Herdman (Naperville, Ill.) knocked in over half of the runs on the day, going 3-for-5 with a double and a home run, five RBIs and one run scored. He gave the Mariners an early lead with a two-run homer in the top of the first.
In the fifth, after an RBI-double by sophomore Tyler Reistetter (Dickinson, Texas), Herdman knocked in two more with a double to make it 5-0.
USMMA struck for four more in the top of the sixth. Junior Joey Zanetti (Richmond, Va.) started it off with a two-RBI double followed by freshman Derek Vanasse (Camarillo, Calif.) continuing his recent hot-streak with a run-scoring single to make it 8-0 and then Herdman closing the Mariners' scoring with an RBI-single up the middle.
Zanetti, Reistetter, Vanasse and freshman Garrett Clapsaddle (Murphy, N.C.) all had multi-hit days. Zanetti (2-for-4 with two doubles) had two RBIs and two runs scored, while Reistetter (2-for-3 with one double) and Vanasse (2-for-5) both knocked in one run each, with Reistetter also scoring a team-high three runs.
The Mariners open up Skyline Conference action this weekend when they travel to St. Joseph's-L.I. on Saturday, March 26. First pitch of the league double-header is scheduled for 12-noon at the Golden Eagles' Alfano Field in Patchogue in Suffolk County, N.Y. Live stats and a live video feed for both games will be available with links on the USMMA Baseball Schedule Page.