Niagara’s brash Mr. Brash sinks Monmouth

Former Kingston Ponies RHP Matthew Brash (Kingston, Ont.) picked up his second shutout of the season blanking Monmouth 5-0.

Brash Throws Second Complete Game Shutout As NU Splits DH With Monmouth

Niagara 8-22, 3-5 MAAC

Monmouth 13-19-1, 3-5 MAAC

Teams 123 456 7 R H E

Niagara 010 130 0 -- 5 11 0

Monmouth 000 000 0 -- 0 4 1

W: Brash, Matthew (2-5) L: Hensey, Rob (2-4)

LOCATION MU Baseball Field

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Matthew Brash’s second complete game shutout of the season highlighted Niagara’s doubleheader split with the Monmouth Hawks on Saturday.

Brash (Kingston, Ont. -- Canada’s first capital) allowed four hits and one walk, while fanning eight.

Game Recap

The Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and added four runs over the next two innings to extend their lead over the Purple Eagles, 5-0.

In the top of the fourth inning, an RBI single from Josh Marchese (Burnabay, BC) left Niagara trailing by just four runs, 5-1. A three-run homerun from Monmouth in the bottom of the inning, however, gave the Hawks an 8-1 lead.

A sacrifice fly from Benny Serrano in the top of the fifth frame scored Marty Cole, putting the Purple Eagles down by six, 8-2.

Peter Battaglia hit a homerun to left field in the sixth inning to cut Monmouth’s lead to five runs, 8-3.

The Hawks added on one more run in the sixth, scoring on a Niagara throwing error.

Eagle’s Eye On…

Battaglia and Dawson Bailey led Niagara with two hits each.

Bailey and Michael Gabriele each had one double.

Battaglia, Serrano and Marchese each recorded one RBI.

Tommy Bednarski (1-3) took the loss on the mound. He struck out two in 3.2 innings pitched.

GAME 30

Game Recap

In the top of the second, Battaglia went yard, giving the Purple Eagles a 1-0 lead over the Hawks.

An RBI single from Bailey in the fourth inning put NU up, 2-0.

In the top of the fifth, Joseph Tevlin (Toronto, Onnt.) singled to left field, scoring Battaglia to extend Niagara’s lead, 3-0. Darian Blanks then tripled to left center, driving in NU’s final two runs.

Eagle’s Eye On…

Brash (2-5) fanned eight, walked one and allowed just four hits in 7.0 innings pitched. He needed just 91 pitches to get through his second career complete game shutout.

Battaglia, Serrano, Tevlin and Blanks each had two hits and Battaglia had a team-high two runs scored.

Battaglia went 2-for-3 at the plate with one homerun and one double.

Blanks recorded a team-high two RBI.