Hawks gearing up for run at NEC title
Hawks are 1 and 1/2 back with 12 games to play
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff Above, Monmouth University's Nick Meyers slides safely around the tag at home plate during the first game of a doubleheader against Central Connecticut State on Saturday in West Long Branch. Below, freshman pitcher Ryan Buch, one of the pleasant surprises on this year's Hawks' staff, stares in at the plate as he takes the sign from his catcher.

With less than a month remaining in the regular season, the Monmouth University men's baseball team finds itself in a pennant race.

Following a double-header split with Central Connecticut State University on Saturday and a 4-3 win on Sunday, the Hawks are 26-14 overall, and 10-5 in Northeast Conference play. That puts them one and one-half games back of Mount St. Mary's (12-4), and just one-half game behind Quinnipiac (11-5), with just three conference series left to play.

"We've got 12 conference games left, where we'll play three opponents four times each," head coach Dean Ehehalt said. "So it gets a little dicey, but we control our own destiny. We don't need to worry about other teams knocking each other off. We just need to take care of business."

The Hawks open a three-game set with Quinnipiac on Friday in Hamden, Conn., and will take on fourth-place Sacred Heart next week (May 10-12) and Wagner (May 17-20) at home to end the regular season.

With the NEC Tournament set to begin May 24 in New Britain, Conn., head coach Dean Ehehalt's squad is concentrating on the games ahead rather than worrying about the tournament.

"We need to get there first," he said. "We've set some high standards for ourselves in the past, and I think in 2006 we kind of put the cart before the horse. We had a very talented team and just didn't play well down the stretch.

"This year we're very focused on playing good baseball, and getting team contributions. I'm very pleased with the make-up of this team."

Ehehalt likes the way his team is competing as well, as the Hawks have been able to strike the balance between a strong offense and quality pitching of late.

"We're playing well. I think we're feeling good about the way we're getting contributions from throughout the line-up," the coach said.

Most of Monmouth's success this year has been led by its offense, as the Hawks are the top hitting team in the conference, with a team batting average of .317.

"We came out of the blocks hitting well down south, and I think it's just carried over for us," Ehehalt said. "All of the stats are a little skewed, because we've been getting hits from everyone. It's not like it's been one guy who's been red hot throughout."

The attack is led by junior first baseman Andy Meyers (of Stafford), who is hitting .407 (61-for-150) with six home runs and 46 RBIs, to go along with 25 walks.

"Andy is just having a phenomenal year," Ehehalt said.

Meyers is leading the conference in hitting, while teammate Kyle Messineo (of Cedar Grove) and Kyle Higgins (Green Brook) are also in the top 10. Messineo, a senior outfielder, is hitting .377 (52-fro-135), while Higgins is batting at a .375 clip (63-for-168).

In fact, the Hawks' three offensive leaders are among the league leaders in several offensive categories, with Higgins having the most hits (63, followed by Meyers at 61), Messineo scoring the most runs (49, followed by Higgins' 46), and Meyers trailing only Mount St. Mary's Eric Smith in RBIs, 48 to 46.

Meyers is also the league leader in total bases with 90 and on-base percentage (.497), while Messineo is the NEC's top base stealer, going 30-for-32 thus far, the league leader in walks with 28 and is second in on-base percentage (.494) and third in slugging percentage (.616).

"Messineo has surprised a little bit with his power numbers," Ehehalt said. "He's really more of a speed guy, but he changed his swing around a little bit and now he has seven home runs.

Monmouth has also gotten solid offensive production out of sophomore Rick Niederhaus, of Hunterdon Central, who is hitting .324 (46-for-142) with three home runs and 28 RBIs, junior Shawn Teters, of Springdale, Ark., who is hitting .318 (42-for-132), and sophomore Chris Collazo, of Wall, who is hitting .309 (47-for-152).

Ehehalt also credits junior catcher John Dennis (of Union) for anchoring the bottom of the line-up.

"John hits down near the bottom of the line-up, and is a good indicator of the balance of the line-up. He's had several big hits for us this year. He's a clutch player."

The Hawks' pitching is led by Brad Brach, of Freehold, who was named the Akadema/Northeast Conference Pitcher of the Week, for a second time in three weeks, on Monday afternoon. Brach, who has thrown four straight complete-game victories, including a nine-inning no-hitter, improved to 6-1 on the year after his win on Saturday.

The junior right-hander tossed a two-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over Central Connecticut State on Saturday afternoon. Brach struck out seven and walked just one, while helping the Hawks win three-of-four from the Blue Devils. Brach, who now ranks third in all-time victories at Monmouth with 18, ranks second in the conference in victories, fourth in strikeouts (53) and fifth in ERA (2.92). He also ranks third in MU history with 173 career strikeouts.

"He's right where we though he'd be," Ehehalt said of Brach. "We're pretty pleased to see that he's getting better and better as the year goes on. He loves a challenge, and refuses to lose.

"The thing is, if you come watch him, he's not one of those guys who wows you. He doesn't throw overly hard, he just works meticulously to get batters out. He gets guys to hit his pitches."

Also throwing well for Monmouth is freshman Ryan Buch, from Yardley, PA.,

who is 6-1 with a 2.40 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 48.2 innings of work.

Freshman Brett Brach has looked good at times for the Hawks, while junior Justin Esposito, a Middletown North graduate, has looked sharp, pitching to a 3-1 mark, with a 2.76 ERA in 16.1 innings of work.

"The freshmen are really throwing well," Ehehalt said, also crediting the work of freshmen Matt Frazier and Kyle Breese. "We had some injuries to some of our front-line guys early on, and these guys really stepped up for us."

As a team, the Hawks are pitching to a .470 ERA, which ranks fourth in the conference. If Monmouth is to make a run at the NEC championship, they will need some strong relief work down the stretch from a number of hurlers, including Frazier (of Whippany), Breese (of South Brunswick), senior Matt Coulson (of Freehold Boro and Brookdale) and freshman Nick Vallilo (of Old Tappan), among others.

"Coulson has been solid," Ehehalt said. "He really gives us some strong options because he's so stable."

With a potent offensive attack and what Ehehalt believes to be a deep, capable pitching staff, Monmouth is poised to put to bed the memories of last year's late-season collapse.

Once again, Monmouth is as talented as any team in the NEC. This year, that talent could very well result in a conference title.