Box score
NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Monmouth got its second combined three-hit shutout in two days, topping NJIT, 9-0, Saturday afternoon at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in the second of a three-game weekend baseball series between the teams.
The Hawks, who had three pitchers combine on a three-hitter in Friday afternoon's win over the Highlanders, did it again on Saturday. Starting pitcher Nick Vallillo (3-0) held NJIT to two hits in seven innings, junior RHP Matt Frazier pitched a perfect eighth inning and senior RHP Tim Ballard finished up with a scoreless ninth inning.
Vallillo, a junior left-hander, retired the first 11 hitters he faced before NJIT DH PJ Saporito singled sharply to center field with two out in the fourth inning. 1B Dan Moreno followed with a walk, but Vallillo got a pop out to right field to end the threat.
LF Thomas Farina got another two-out single in the fifth for the Highlanders and moved to second on a passed ball, but he, too, was stranded.
The third hit for NJIT was another sharp single to center field, this one by pinch hitter Anthony Caiola leading off the bottom of the ninth inning.
NJIT's starter, sophomore RHP Steven Ace (0-4) also pitched seven full innings and was charged with 12 hits, nine runs (eight earned), a walk and two hit batsmen. He struck out three.
Freshman RHP Reid Okita retired all six Monmouth batters he faced in relief. He got two ground outs and a strikeout in the eighth and two ground outs and a fly out in the ninth.
Monmouth, the two-time defending Northeast Conference regular season champion, scored three runs in the top of the first inning, two apiece in the fourth and sixth innings and one run apiece in the third and seventh innings.
Nine different Hawks combined for the team's 12 hits, led by 2B Chris Collazo, OF Nick Pulsonetti and 3B Jamie Rosenkranz, all three of whom finished with two hits.
Pulsonetti hit a two-run homer to key Monmouth's three-run first inning. IF Ryan Terry drove in a run on a ground out in the inning and later hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning, giving him a team-best three RBI. Terry also stole three bases, leading the Hawks to six steals on the day.
The two hits for Rosenkranz were a double and triple and Collazo drove in two runs with a double in the sixth inning.
NJIT and Monmouth are scheduled to wrap up the three-game series on Sunday at 1 pm in West Long Branch, NJ, on the Monmouth campus.
