Four of Monmouth’s spring teams faced strong competition for their 2022 opening weekend games. The preseason favorite baseball squad traveled to Cary, North Carolina for the Penn State Tournament while softball played in the Spring Games Tournament in Leesburg, Florida. Monmouth’s men’s lacrosse kept it local, competing in Princeton, New Jersey and women’s lacrosse opened its season on their home turf Kessler Stadium.
Monmouth Baseball started their season strong with a 3-1 weekend at the Penn State Tournament. The team started the weekend against Big10 opponent Penn State on Friday, February 18th. Monmouth’s Trey Dromboski earned the win with six no-hit innings and 7 strikeouts. Reliever Stephen Aldrich got the save with 4 K’s in 3 solid innings.
Chris Andrews led the offense with three hits and three RBI’s in his first career start. Head Coach Dean said it was a “Great team win today. A very nice way to start our season.”
A double header on Saturday, Feb. 19 against a strong Northeastern University team resulted in a 1-1 split for the day. Unfortunately the Hawks were not able to protect the lead and Northeastern tied the game in the sixth. An but an offensive burst in the top of the ninth gave the Huskies a 10-5 win in the first game of the doubleheader.
Freshman Reed Interdonato made his collegiate debut in the second game of the double header. Interdonato pitched 4 innings with 5K’s and 2 runs against. Monmouth reliever Cory Hitlz earned the win pitching 3 strong innings. Mike Dimino and Alex Barker combined to finish the game. Monmouth narrowed the gap with Mason Wolf’s first career RBI in the 5th. MU had enough ammunition to get the 12-5 win over the Huskies. Alex Barker got his first homer of the season.
MU finished its opening weekend with a 10th inning walk off 4-3 win against Long Island University on Sunday, Feb. 20. Matt Choi made his first career performance striking out one and Mason Miller earned the win. A bases loaded walk off hit by Jake Catalano gave the Hawk’s the 10th inning win.
The Hawk’s will take on the Wofford Terriers and Notre Dame next weekend in Greenville, South Carolina.
Monmouth University Softball dropped four of their first five games opening weekend in Leesburg Florida, taking a big victory against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
In game one against Bethune-Cookman, the Hawks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead off a two-out single, delivered from senior infielder Danielle Dominik, scoring senior outfielder Francesca Torraca. Monmouth let the lead slip away in the top of the second allowing five runs on three errors.
The Hawks found a way to bounce back on Saturday, defeating North Carolina for the first time ever, 2-0. Freshman pitcher Billie Kerwood threw a complete game shutout against the Tar Heels. In her debut outing, Kerwood recorded four strike outs while allowing just three hits.
At the plate, Sophomore infielder Julia Thuer sparked the Hawks with a two-out RBI single in the first inning. Senior infielder Lindsey Baron scored in the top of the seventh after picking up a double and advancing home on a throwing error from the Tar Heels. Baron is hitting .444 through the first three games of the season.
In the second game of a double header, the Hawks fell to Butler 5-0. Through the top of the fifth, the score remained at zero. Butler broke open the game in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two. Butler added three more in the bottom of the sixth.
Freshman pitcher Emily Spencer made her first start as a Hawk against Butler. Spencer recorded three strikeouts through five innings pitched, while only allowing 2 runs, both coming in the fifth inning.
Monmouth faced off against Stetson and Florida Atlantic in their final two matchups at The Spring Games on Sunday. In game one the Hawks fell 4-1 to the Stetson Hatters.
Florida Atlantic then took the final game of the weekend from Monmouth, 9-5. The Hawks trailed 9-2 in the final inning but were able to score three more on four walks, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly from Dominik.
Up next Monmouth softball travels down to South Carolina for Coastal Carolina’s Chanticleer Showdown from Thursday, February 24 to Saturday, February 26. The Hawks will face Coastal Carolina, Maryland, Dartmouth, and Central Michigan down in South Carolina.
Monmouth men’s lacrosse, the MAAC preseason favorite, opened their season with a disappointing 22-6 loss against the Princeton Tigers at Sherrerd Field on Saturday, February 19. The men kept the Tigers in their sights coming back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the score 2-2 with goals from Cade Stratton and Conner Macrae. Despite goals from Monmouth’s Luke Cole, David McCormack and Max Brooks the Hawks found themselves down 10-5 at the half.
The Hawks finished the contest with 27 shots, won 14 face-offs, caused 5 turnovers and scooped 32 ground balls. Ultimately their mistakes including 21 turnovers created an insurmountable hurdle.
Monmouth will return to the field Saturday, February 26 when they travel to Delaware to face the Blue Hens at 12 p.m.
Monmouth women’s lacrosse defeated Central Connecticut State (CCSU) 21-2 in their season opener at Kessler Stadium on Sunday, February 20. Monmouth’s offense blasted into a nine goal first quarter and just kept going.
Freshman Caroline Brennan led the attack with 6 goals and 3 assists in her collegiate debut. Hope Steuerwald had a career best five-point game with three goals and two assists. Maddie Murphy had a career high three goals.
Defensive player Danielle McNeely caused 3 turnovers in her first collegiate game, a team high. Monmouth was able to cause 19 CCSU turnovers led by McNeely with Brennan, Grace Curtin and Carli Mangum each with 2 turnovers. Two goalies Kennedy Fruit and Madi Bednarik combined to stop six shots on goal.
Monmouth will travel to Brookville, New York on Saturday, Feb. 26 for a 1p.m. matchup against Long Island University.
