Box Score

LITTLE FALLS, N.J. – Two runs in the top of the fourth broke a 5-5 tie, giving William Paterson (23-17) a lead it would not relinquish in an 8-6 victory at Montclair State (23-15) during the first round of the 2008 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Baseball Tournament May 1.

The Pioneers will next face Rowan, a 6-2 winner at The College of New Jersey, Saturday, May 3, at 6:00 p.m. at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark.

Junior first baseman Will Courter (Roseland, N.J./West Essex) went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs, while junior center fielder John Elia (Emerson, N.J./Pascack Valley) had two hits and drove in two runs. Sophomore Mike Guadango (Upper Saddle River, N.J./Northern Highlands) had three hits and an RBI for the fifth-seeded Pioneers.

What started out as a would-be slugfest turned into a closely-played game the final seven innings after the teams combined for 10 runs and 10 hits during the first two farmes.

Knotted at 5-5 in the top of the fourth, William Paterson plated two runs as Courter and Guadango were hit by pitches to open the inning. A wild pitch moved the runners up, and Courter came home as Anthony Perrone (Midland Park, N.J./Bergen Catholic) grounded out. After a pop-up, Elia came through with a two-out double to score Guagadno and push WP ahead, 7-5.

Sophomore right-hander Scott Zirul (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove) helped hold that lead as he settled down after the first two innings. Zirul, who gutted out seven innings in a 134-pitch performance, retired 12 of 16 batters he faced over the next five frames as he allowed nine hits, walked three and struck out two on the day.

Montclair State would cut into the deficit in the eighth as Andrew Himmelfarb doubled with one out and scored after Michael Nunes' infield single, making it a 7-6 contest. But the Pioneers got a huge insurance run in the ninth as Courter roped a two-out single, scoring Derek Koppinger (Columbia, N.J./North Warren Regional) to give William Paterson a two-run cushion.

Junior Dan VandeVrede (Lincoln Park, N.J./Pequannock), who entered in the eighth inning, made the lead stand as he retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.

William Paterson stormed out of the gate in the first inning as the Pioneers plated four runs. Guadango gave WP a 1-0 lead four batters into the game with a RBI-single, and William Paterson took advantage of a throwing error for its second run. Vince Joyce (Franklin, N.J./Wallkill Valley) added a RBI-single and Elia's base hit up the middle capped the opening inning for the Pioneers.

Montclair State countered with two in its half of the first as Ed Kloepping singled home one run and Rob Clark was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. A run-scoring single by Courter in the second extended the Pioneers' lead to 5-2, but the Red Hawks answered again with three runs to tie the game. Lou Politan (Livingston, NJ / Livingston) tripled home Nunes for the first run and Jeff Miller followed with a two-run blast over the left-field fence, his fifth of the year.

Koppinger was 3-for-5 for William Paterson, while Joyce had two hits as the Pioneers collected 15 in the game. Politan (3-for-4) and Kloepping (3-for-5) had three hits apiece for MSU while Nunes went 2-for-4.