BASEBALL EARNS SPLIT WITH MONMOUTH; FRESHMAN BROWN HOMERS TWICE

March 27, 2010

BRYANT BASEBALL SPLITS WITH MONMOUTH SATURDAY
Northborough, Mass native Kevin Brown Goes 6-for-8 with two home runs

Game 1 – Monmouth 5, Bryant 4 – Final 10 Innings - BOX SCORE
Game 2 – Bryant 10, Monmouth 1 - BOX SCORE

Kevin Brown went 6-for-8 with 5 RBI, 2 doubles and 2 home runs in a doubleheader Saturday with Monmouth.  www.dspics.com

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.   –  After dropping a pair of one-run games, the Bryant University baseball bats came alive in the second game of a Northeast Conference doubleheader with Monmouth as the Bulldogs downed the Hawks 10-1 to gain a split Saturday. 

Newcomer Kevin Brown (Northborough, Mass.) had a huge day offensively for the Bryant (4-13, 1-2 NEC).  After belting out a pair of home runs in a 5-4 loss in the first game, the freshman got went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in the second game to lead the Bulldogs to the win. 

Brown helped get the Bulldogs off on the right foot with a two-run double in the second inning of Game 2 as the Bulldogs jumped out quickly 3-0 on the Hawks.  Bryant would plate two more runs in the fifth as Brown doubled again and came around to score on a two-run double by Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn.). 

Monmouth (6-8, 2-1 NEC) would get its first hit off Michaud in the fifth as Danny Avella led off the inning with a solo home run to right.  It would be the lone blemish on the afternoon for Michaud as Bryant added five more runs in the sixth giving the Bulldog righty more than enough runs to work with.

Michaud (2-1) has been impressive in his first season for the Bulldogs.  Making his third start Saturday, the freshman held Monmouth to only one hit through six innings of work, striking out a career-best eight while walking just two. 

Freshman Ryan Granat (Long Valley, N.J.) kicked off the big inning with an RBI double and would come around to score on an RBI single by Brown.  Granat was productive at the plate, finishing the day going 2-for0-3 with two runs scored and three RBI. 

Vigurs would double in Brown later in the inning.  For Vigurs, it was the senior’s 53rd career double, moving him just one shy of Scott Yankee’s all-time record of 54. 

Junior David O’Brien (Whitman, Mass.) came on to pitch a perfect ninth, getting three fly outs to end the game.

Brown finished the day going 6-for-8 in the two games, scoring four times and driving in five runs.  Vigurs had four hits in the two games and three RBI. 

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In the first game, the Bryant  jumped out quickly as Brown led off the game with a solo home run to right.  The Bulldogs would add another run in the third thanks to a lead-off homer by Tim Norton (Barnstable, Mass.) to make it 2-0. 

After Monmouth would cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth, the Bulldogs added two more thanks to another homer by Brown, this time a two-run shot to right with one out to give the visitors a 4-1 lead. 

But Monmouth would rally with three runs in the sixth to tie it at 4-4 and force extra innings.  In the top of the tenth, the Bulldogs would put runners on first and second with two outs but a grounder to third by Adam Claire (Litchfield, Conn.) forced Vigurs out at third to end the inning. 

In the bottom of the tenth, the Hawks would get the win as Matt McEndy singled in the game-winning run to give Monmouth its second walk-off hit in as many days.   

Bryant and Monmouth will close out the weekend series Sunday with a 1 p.m. game at MU Field.