LITTLE FALLS, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | First-place and No. 23 ranked Montclair State University scored all five of its runs in the first four innings of action and held off a late surge from New Jersey City University to win the opening game of a two-day home-and-home New Jersey Athletic Conference series, 5-2, on Thursday at Yogi Berra Stadium.
Montclair (24-12, 12-3 NJAC), ranked No. 23 in Division III by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and receiving votes by D3baseball.com, equivalent to a No. 26 ranking, remained in first place in the league by two points (24) over Kean University (22) with three games remaining on the conference regular season slate. NJCU (12-24, 1-14 NJAC) dropped its sixth in a row. NJCU had won the previous two meetings after sweeping the 2011 series from the Hawks.
In defeat, four NJCU players had multiple hits as freshman shortstop MICHAEL MARTUCCI (Bayonne, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep), freshman right fielder MATTHEW WAGNER(Colonia, NJ/Colonia), junior left fielder ANDREW RIVERA (Edison, NJ/Edison), and sophomore designated hitter MATT MATLOSZ (Clark, NJ/Arthur L. Johnson) each had two hits.
Junior third baseman BRIAN BUSTILLO (Jersey City, NJ/Hudson Catholic) had a two-RBI double in the eighth inning to produce both eighth inning runs for NJCU. Junior second baseman PETE SENYSZYN (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) had his on-base streak snapped at 12 games.
For MSU, junior catcher Scott Glozzy (Hackettstown, NJ, Warren Hills) and junior leftfielder Matt Moreno (Park Ridge, NJ, Park Ridge) each had two runs batted in. Glozzy was 2-for-4 with one run and Moreno went 2-for-3. Sophomore shortstop Cody Pace (Milltown, NJ, Spotswood) was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.