NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Monroe College’s Men’s Baseball team — the 2016 Region XV champions — opened the new season with a 6-2 victory over Burlington County College in a game played at Pemberton, NJ, on Friday. The game was the first of an intended doubleheader that saw game two suspended due to darkness. Monroe was leading the second game, 3-0.
Monroe sophomore Oliver Mailloux earned his first win of the year after earning the start and throwing five innings of one-hit ball. Michael Crispino and Ramon Encarnacion each threw an inning of relief.
The Mustangs pushed a run across in the second and third innings respectively. The first run of the game came when Adonis Garcia hit a lead-off double to center. Shadrack Muellens followed with a walk and Garcia got to third and scored on a wild pitch. An inning later, Isaiah Torres singled and stole second. He came in on an RBI base hit from Troy Davern.
Burlington County scored in the fourth to make it 2-1, and Monroe answered with three runs in the sixth. Garcia reached on an infield single, his second hit of the game. Meullens singled, putting runners were on first and second. Luis Gonzalez loaded the bases with an infield hit. From there, another wild pitch let a run in and the Mustangs led, 3-1. Edgardo Bernard then drove in a pair with a 2-RBI single to left. Monroe was up 5-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
Burlington answered with a run in the sixth and trailed 5-2 heading into the seventh. Monroe got an RBI double from Meullens to put the game out of reach as the Mustangs won 6-2.
The second game had Monroe ahead, 3-0 in the third inning when it was suspended due to darkness. Michael Crispino, Oscar Torres, and Juan Torres all had an RBI in the game.
The team returns to action on Saturday, March 4, when they start a four-game series against Sullivan County Community College.
