The Monmouth University Baseball team struggled this past weekend against Quinnipiac despite earning a win in the first game of the series that they dropped to the Bobcats.
On April 15, the Hawks won 7-4, where star pitcher Trey Dombroski struck out 13 batters, a career-high. Both Alex Barker and James Harmstead homered during the match-up that opened league play. Stephen Aldrich struck out two batters in the ninth, earning Monmouth’s defeat.
In the next game, the Hawks lost 13-5. During this match-up, Phil Stahl hit his first career homerun. Although the bullpen did not allow an earned run, the team wasn’t able to get the win.
On Saturday, the Hawks officially lost the series when they lost 13-7 against the Bobcats. Three Hawks homered but the team couldn’t catch up.
Head Coach Dean Ehehalt told Monmouth Athletics, “Today we fell behind early and were unable to dig out. In order to win conference games on the road, we need to play better baseball. Phil Stahl had a good day for us.”
Over on the softball field, Monmouth softball split a doubleheader with Marist on April 16. In game one the Hawks fell 16-0 but surged back in game two earning a score of 6-4.
During their win, the team was led by home runs from Stavi Augur and Abby Warner. There was no score for five innings until Augur hit a two-run homerun to left center at the top of the sixth to get things going. Head Coach Shannon Salsburg told Monmouth Athletics “I am proud of how the team rebounded.” She added, “Billie was outstanding, we had clutch hitting and the team fought until the very last pitch together. That is Monmouth softball.”
As for lacrosse, there was a ton of winning with both the men’s and women’s teams earning wins. The men’s team got a win against Canisius 6-4 with a strong defense. Noah Lode, who was named MAAC Co-Defensive Player of the Week, committed 12 saves. Looking ahead, the team will face Manhattan on Friday.
The women’s team earned an exciting win on Senior Day over Marist 18-9. Eleven different Hawks made a goal on Saturday. Head Coach Jordan Trautman told Monmouth Athletics “We are thrilled to get another big conference win. It was a great day of lacrosse and exciting to continue to see consistent play. We now head into our bye week to rest and recharge for our final regular season conference game next Saturday.”
During the past week, Men’s and Women’s Golf and Tennis closed out the regular season, with men’s tennis taking home the title of Regular Season champions- scoring a perfect season with no losses in the conference.
On April 11, Men’s Tennis at home in a match against Rider University, honored the seniors Austin Klapman and Sasha Pachnev. In a good way to end their careers, the two also won their doubles match.
On April 16, the men’s team secured the spot of officially winning the regular season. The team was 7-0 against Niagara University at their course.
Head Coach Chris Leiht said, “We are excited to finish the MAAC regular season with an undefeated record. It has been a fun and very successful season. Now we will have a strong week of practice and be ready for the MAAC Tournament next weekend.”
Contributing to the win was Niels Van Noord, Victor Castro, Dmitry Bezborodov, Lucca Silva, Charlie Penman, Arthur Dussaubut, Christof Zeiler, and Trent Massam.
Unfortunately, the women’s tennis team this year was unable to make the MAAC Conference playoffs. They lost a match 4-3 to Niagara University. Head Coach Patrice Murray said, “I am proud of our team’s fight today and all season long. We came up just short of making the conference tournament.”
Senior Nicole Glasser and graduate student Sydney DeNardo were honored for their contributions to the team for the past four years. During the match, Nicole Glasser and sophomore Zoe Klapman won two singles while in the doubles the team had a good competition.
For the doubles, Nicole Glasser and Lenien Jamir won their match, while Zoe Klapman/Jo Pax and Maddison Mills/Lauren Landstrom won their doubles matches easily, however due to the singles competition the team came short of the overall victory.
The Women’s Golf team also had their last home meet on Thursday, April 14, at Eagle Ridge Country Club in Lakewood. Junior Claire Orr victoriously won the meet winning her first collegiate career win as a Hawk. In addition, during the beginning ceremony, seniors Mackenzee Matarese, Amanda Hart, and fifth years Cassidy Gavaghan and Isabel Vance were honored for their time on the team.
The Men’s Golf team had an away competition on April 12, where the team scored ninth at the Abarta Invitational. Coach Bill Britton noted, “This was a good tournament for us, definitely an improvement. Ninth place does not sound great but we lost by only 13 shots against the strong 20-team field. Our younger guys are playing more like we expect them to, which is adding to the consistency of our team.”
Up next, both the Men’s and Women’s teams will head down to Disney World in Orlando, Florida for the MAAC Conference tournament from April 20-25 to complete their seasons.
