Box Score

CHANDLER, ARIZ. – The William Paterson baseball team (2-5-1) suffered a 7-4 loss to Central, Iowa (7-2) March 16 at the Greater Phoenix Invitational.

Two singles and a double helped the Dutch take a 2-0 lead during the top of the first inning, and an error and RBI-single made it a 3-0 Central lead in the second.

The Pioneers crossed the plate three times with two outs in the fourth. An error allowed graduate student Frank Franco (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) to reach first, and after a Mike Moran (Pompton Plains, N.J./Pequannock Twp.) single, freshman Mike Arecchi (Hazlet, N.J./St. John Vianney) doubled down the left-field line to score Franco. Freshman Rob Pasternak (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) then delivered a hit to center field, clearing the bases and knotting the score.

Back-to-back WP errors allowed Central to score a run in the fifth, and two singles and an error made it a 5-3 Dutch lead in the sixth.

Junior Jack Montanile (Weehawken, N.J./Hudson Catholic) started the bottom of the seventh inning with a base hit, was sacrificed by A.J. Flores (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) to second, and scored via an Anthony Dorio (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst) single to make it a 5-4 game. But, a two-run base hit for Central during the top of the eighth inning put the game out of reach for William Paterson.

Montanile was 3-for-4 with a run scored to lead the Pioneer offense. Sophomore James Young (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) allowed nine hits and five runs (two earned) in 6.0 innings, suffering the loss (0-1). Freshman Ed Casiano (Garfield, N.J./Garfield) gave up one hit in 1.0 inning, classmate Matt Serra (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) surrendered two runs on one hit, and sophomore Greg Baker (Clark, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson Regional) tossed the final 2.0 innings and gave up a pair of hits.

William Paterson will play Springfield Thursday, March 17, at 3:00 p.m. at the Greater Phoenix Invitational.