The Montclair State Red Hawks took the field at their home ballpark, Yogi Berra Stadium, this past Saturday, March 20, to play their first doubleheader at home this season against the Manhattanville College Valiants. The Red Hawks took both games of the series, one which featured a new all-time record being set and the other featuring yet another comeback victory.
Joe Norton Sets All-Time Montclair State Stolen Base Record in Dominant Win
Joe Norton lead off the first game for Montclair State by reaching first on an E-5. He then proceeded to steal second base and then stole third base after that. Those two stolen bases were especially significant as they were the 68th and 69th stolen base in his career, which tied and then broke the Montclair State all-time stolen base record. The record was previously held by Dave Wurst, who stole 68 bases from 1998 to 2001.
"I had an idea of where I was at," said the senior infielder on setting the record. "I wasn't positive but I knew I was getting close. It's exciting. It's an honor. There's been a lot of good players here. It's something that I can say forever on setting the all-time record. So that's cool and something I'm proud of."
"Joe's a table setter," said Montclair State Red Hawks baseball head coach Dave Lorber. "He's a professional in how he goes about it. He's a guy that was really hot early in the season. Cooled off a little bit. And now he gets that record. It's going to be an amazing thing for him to remember. It's just an amazing accomplishment and he earns it. It's not like he takes it for granted in his work. He works for it and he earns it. Special moment for him."
Meet the new @MSURedhawkBall Stolen Base King - Joe Norton, who swiped his 69th career base during the first inning of today's game w/ Manhattanville. @montclairstateu @NJACSports @d3baseball @RedHawkSN #redhawk4life #whyd3 #ComeFlyWithUs pic.twitter.com/uTzTDXdADv
— Montclair State Athletics (@msuredhawks) March 20, 2022
As far as the game itself, the Red Hawks were in control from the first pitch. Starting pitcher Matt Pontari dominated on the mound in this one, as he went five 2/3 innings while allowing just one run and three hits and striking out eight total batters. Pontari started the season coming out of the bullpen, but has started in his last three appearances. In those three starts he's allowed just three runs and struck out 20 batters in 14 2/3 innings.
"It was kind of crazy," said the freshman pitcher on transitioning from reliever to starter. "We were at Catholic and I was supposed to start the next game but the score was 19-17 in the top of the ninth. We needed a guy to go in and close the game. So it's pretty much 'be ready whenever.' Whether you're think you're starting or you think you're coming in relief. Just be ready whenever and all hands on deck."
Matt Pontari with a nasty breaking ball to retire the side in the top of the third. Pontari remains hitless through three. #ComeFlyWithUs #JerseySports pic.twitter.com/jVO3vUPhyx
— Adam Grassani (@AGrassani6) March 20, 2022
Furthermore, Montclair State's lineup dominated, jumping out to a 6-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning alone. Jordan Jurkiewicz continued his hot hitting, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs. The Red Hawks rolled on to a 8-1 win to take the first game of this doubleheader.
Montclair State Mounts Another Epic Comeback
It was just four days ago that Montclair State came back down from 10-6 against the Eastern University Eagles. In the second game of this doubleheader, the Red Hawks put together yet another come from behind victory. Manhattanville jumped out in front in the middle innings of this one, scoring three in the fifth as well as two in the sixth. The big hit came off the bat of Deven Silva, a two-run single to give the Valiants a 7-2 lead at the time.
However, the Red Hawks rally would start in the bottom of the seventh, when Jorden Jurkiewicz launched one into deep left field for a solo home run, his seventh homer of the season, to cut the deficit to 7-3. Max McLoughlin followed that up with a RBI single to make it 7-4 heading into the eighth inning, where Jorden Jurkiewicz would come up big yet again, going the other way and hammering one off the right field wall for a one-run double. Jurkiewicz went a combined 8-for-10 with four RBIs in both games of the doubleheader.
Jordan Jurkiewicz hammers one the other way and legs out a triple. He’s now 5-for-6 in both games of this doubleheader. #ComeFlyWithUs #JerseySports pic.twitter.com/xldxBKdCsk
— Adam Grassani (@AGrassani6) March 20, 2022
Mike Murphy then singled to score Jurkiewicz to make the game 7-6. This would be when Manhattanville would get sloppy defensively, as they committed three wild pitches and two errors, one of which lead to the tying run. Anthony Guarino would end up driving home the go-ahead and game-winning run with a sacrifice fly to score Reece Malek, giving Montclair State the 8-7 lead and ultimately the victory.
"Doubleheaders are hard to win," said Coach Lorber. "You get one game great. It's really hard to sweep because you can always find yourself in a little bit of rut of complacent. You feel good about getting a win and all of a sudden you use back on your energy. We had a really good moment in the dugout where some guys stepped forward and kind of called us out on it. And that was an awesome moment. Guys came out."
On-Deck for Montclair State
The Montclair State Red Hawks now stand with an overall record of 13-5 on the season, which is currently third in the New Jersey Athletic Conference behind Kean University and Rowan University. They'll head back on the road to face Drew University Wednesday, March 23 at 3:30 p.m. EDT before returning home to face Baruch College Saturday, March 26 at 3 p.m. EDT.
