Montclair, NJ – Designated hitter Miles Feaster and second baseman Eric Havner each drove in three runs as Montclair State, down five runs before taking its first turn at bat, roared back for a 21-5 victory over The College of New Jersey at Yogi Berra Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Freshman right-hander Jack Haveson tossed 6 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, striking out seven as the Red Hawks (10-3) swept the home-and-home series from the Lions (2-7, 1-3 NJAC) adding today's win to its 9-0 victory in Ewing on Thursday. MSU has won two straight over TCNJ after dropping the six previous meetings.
Shut out by Montclair on Thursday, TCNJ quickly put an end to that scoreless streak in the first with five runs. Joe Oczkowski drove in the first run with a fielder's choice with Grant Sible and Ryan Goodall each adding RBI singles. Aydon Chavis made it 4-0 with an RBI on a fielder's choice with Nick Francisco's run-scoring single staking the Lions to the five-run lead.
Montclair State answered immediately with four in its half of the first. Peter Cosentino got the first run on a base hit with Andrew Ollwerther adding a second on an infield single. Michael Murphy collected a sacrifice fly making the score 5-3 with a Havner RBI ground out pulling MSU within a run.
The Red Hawks took the lead in the third with four more runs. Murphy tied it with a double down the left-field line and Havner sent MSU into the lead with a single through the right side scoring Murphy. Marco Monteiro and Joe Norton recorded consecutive RBI doubles giving the Red Hawks an 8-5 lead.
Montclair State broke the game open in the fourth with nine runs. Havner plated one with an infield single and Jason Moore walked with the bases loaded forcing home a run for a 10-5 lead. Monteiro lofted a sac fly before Feater's two-run single extended the lead to 13-5. An error by TCNJ with the bases loaded scored three more. Sam Angelo capped the inning with an RBI double.
Cosentino and Ollwerther each drove in a run in the fifth with Angelo driving home the final Montclair run in the seventh with a single.
Meanwhile, Haveson was brilliant in the longest outing of his brief career. The right-hander got the final out of the first inning to end the TCNJ rally and retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced. He allowed just one hit, an infield single by Brian Brown to open the sixth inning, to earn his first career victory and became the 10th different Red Hawks pitcher this season to log a victory on the mound.
Feaster and Angelo each had three hits in the game with Norton and Murphy each collecting two hits.
Montclair State is back in action on Saturday, April 10 with another home contest. The Red Hawks host Stockton University in an NJAC doubleheader beginning at 11:30 am.