POUGHKEEPSIE, New York -- The Marist baseball team opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play and the home portion of its 2018 schedule with a three game series vs the Monmouth Hawks on Saturday and Sunday at McCann Field.

The Red Foxes and Hawks will play a nine and seven inning doubleheader on Saturday (Noon), with the second game beginning approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1, before wrapping up the series with a single nine inning game on Sunday (Noon). 

LAST TIME OUT:

Marist picked up its fourth straight win in a row with a 9-5 victory vs the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlands on Tuesday afternoon at Honey Field on the campus of Bard College.

For the fourth straight game, the Red Foxes opened the scoring when in the bottom of the first inning, junior Anthony Lazar ripped a leadoff double down the left field line. Senior Andrew Rouse followed with a walk and redshirt senior Greg Kocinski laced an RBI single that scored Lazar for the 1-0 lead. Junior Frankie Gregoire kept the offense rolling with an RBI single to shortstop that scored Rouse and after redshirt junior Jordan Roper was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs, redshirt sophomore Tyler Kapuscinski knocked home Kocinski with an RBI sac fly to center. Freshman Reece Armitage followed with an RBI groundout that scored Kocinski and it was 4-0 Marist.

In the bottom of the second, Lazar walked with one out, Rouse was hit by a pitch and Kocinski followed with an RBI single to right that scored Lazar. Gregoire then reached on a fielder's choice that scored Rouse and it was 6-0 Red Foxes.

The Highlanders got on the board in the top of the third with back-to-back walks. After a fielder's choice, an RBI groundout scored the runner from third and following a wild pitch and a walk, a second run scored when the runner stole home to bring the score to 6-2 in favor of the home team.

For a third straight inning, Marist scored in the bottom of the third when Kapuscinski leadoff with a single and then advanced to second on a ground out. Freshman Gene Napolitano followed with an RBI triple to left center and it was 7-2 Red Foxes.

NJIT trimmed the deficit to 7-4 in the top of the fourth with a one out single, followed by an RBI triple to center field. After back-to-back walks, wrapped around a Marist pitching change, a pop out to the second baseman and a hit batsman, a wild pitch scored a run from third and it was 7-4 Red Foxes.

In the bottom of the fifth, Armitage leadoff with a double down the right field line and after a fly out and a Highlander pitching change, Armitage advanced to third on a wild pitch. Sophomore Patrick Lightner followed with an RBI ground out to give Marist the 8-4 lead.

One inning later, Roper reached and advanced to second on a throwing error by the third baseman and then moved to third on a fly out. Two batters later, Napolitano laced an RBI single down the left field line and it was 9-4 Red Foxes.

In the top of the ninth, NJIT added a run with a walk, a wild pitch, another walk, a second wild pitch and after Marist pitching change and back-to-back outs, an RBI single scored the runner. However, that was as close as the Highlanders would come as a ground out ended the inning and secured the 9-5 Marist win.

WEEKLY RECOGNITION:

Lazar was named the Madness MAAC Player of The Week by collegesportsmadness.com on Tuesday. He batted .429 with six hits, four doubles, one run scored and 4 RBI in three wins at Towson last weekend. He finished with a two hits, a double and one RBI in the Red Foxes' 4-1 win on Saturday, two hits, a double and and one RBI in Marist's 9th inning comeback 5-3 win on Sunday and had two hits, a double, a run scored and one RBI in the Red Foxes's 9-1 win on Friday. He now has five doubles in his last four games and one in each of the last five games as well.

MAAC RANKINGS:

As a team, Marist is third in the MAAC with a .260 batting average (123-for-473)

Senior Matt Iantosca is sixth in the conference with a .357 batting average

Kocinski is tied for sixth in the MAAC with 29 total bases, is eighth in the conference with a .435 on base percentage and a .547 slugging percentage and is 13th in the conference with a .340 batting average

Coss is second in the conference with a 1.89 ERA, is tied for second in the MAAC with two wins, is third in the conference with 10 appearances and a .203 opponent batting average against and is seventh in the MAAC with 20 strikeouts

Junior Randy Taveras is first in the MAAC with 5 stolen bases

Lazar is first in the conference with .86 doubles per game and is tied for fifth in the MAAC with six doubles

Rouse is tied for second in the MAAC with four stolen bases and is fifth in the conference with a .443 on base percentage

SCOUTING THE HAWKS:

Monmouth enters the series with a 4-11 record and are coming off 11-4, 10-3 and 7-6 losses vs Yale and Lehigh and at Richmond last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

Junior Kyle Norman leads the team with a .362 average (21-for-58), 21 hits, 16 RBI, a .552 slugging percentage, is tied for first with one triple and is second with a .441 on base percentage. 

On the mound, the Hawks have looked to redshirt senior Ricky Dennis, junior Joe Molettiere and freshman Dan Klepchick as their starters. 

Dennis is 1-4 with a 5.48 ERA and in 21.1 innings pitched, has given up 21 (13 earned) runs on 26 hits with nine walks, 17 strikeouts and a .299 opponent batting average against.

Molettiere is 0-2 with a 5.79 ERA and in 23.1 innings pitched, has given up 16 (15 earned) runs on 17 hits with 16 walks, 19 strikeouts and a .200 opponent batting average against.

Klepchick is 2-1 with a 6.75 ERA and in 20 innings pitched, has given up 15 runs on 18 hits with seven walks, 12 strikeouts and a .231 opponent batting average against.

HOW TO FOLLOW: 

Live stats will be available for all three games. Fans can also @Marist_BSB on Twitter for in game updates.

UP NEXT:

Following the series vs Monmouth, Marist welcomes the UMass Lowell Riverhawks to McCann Field on Wednesday at 3 p.m.