BOX SCORE (Game #1)  
BOX SCORE (Game #2)

CHANDLER, ARIZ. – The William Paterson baseball team (10-3) took game one on a dramatic pinch-hit home run by Adam Derner (River Edge, N.J./River Dell Regional), to win 7-6, but dropped the nightcap, 7-6, against Concordia (1-7), March 22 at the Greater Phoenix Invitational.

GAME ONE
The Pioneers were down to the last strike before a final seventh-inning rally pulled WP in front by a run to secure the victory.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and trailing by six runs, the Pioneers strung together six consecutive singles, capped off by the Derner blast to take game one from the Falcons.  Sophomore A.J. Flores (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) started the two-out rally for William Paterson with a single to left field.  Catcher Mike Arecchi (Hazlet, N.J./St. John Vianney) followed with a single, and Ryan Gibbons' (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock) poke scored Flores.  Senior shortstop Anthony Dorio (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst) singled to right field to load the bases for classmate Jack Montanile (Weehawken, N.J./Hudson Catholic), who singled to allow Arecchi and Gibbons to score.  Derner stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter with two runners on and blasted a home run for a walk-off, 7-6 victory.

Gibbons led off the game with a walk and later scored on a Falcons error to put the Pioneers in front, 1-0.  Concordia answered in the top of the third inning on RBI triples by Austin Sarauer and Adam Martz, scoring three runs in the inning.  Three singles by the Falcons offense allowed another run to score in the top of the fifth frame, extending the lead, 4-1.  Concordia tacked on another run on three hits in the top of the sixth, and added a security run in the seventh to make the score 6-1.

Freshman Ryan Monaghan (Bergenfield, N.J./Bergenfield) picked up his first collegiate win in relief for the Pioneers, tossing 1.1 innings, striking out two and allowing one earned run.  Junior James Young (Bayonne, N.J./Bayonne) got the start for WP, throwing 5.2 innings and surrendering five runs.

Derner was 1-for-1 with three RBI, and Flores finished 2-for-3 with a run scored.

GAME TWO
A four-run bottom of the seventh inning allowed the Falcons to overcome William Paterson in the nightcap.

The Pioneers found themselves with a three-run lead entering the last inning, but an error-plagued defensive effort allowed four runs to score on just one hit to give Concordia the 7-6 victory.

WP went ahead early, as senior Rob Somers' (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional) ground ball plated Derner, who had led off the top of the second with a walk.  Concordia responded in the bottom half of the frame, stringing together two singles and a walk to knot the score at 1-1.

Back-to-back walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases in the Pioneers' half of the fourth inning, and freshman Mike Arnold's (Dumont, N.J./Dumont) sacrifice fly pulled WP in front, 2-1.  Montanile's two-RBI single in the fifth allowed Gibbons and freshman K.C. Abel (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) to score, after both had reached on singles of their own to extend the lead, 4-1.

The Falcons cut the lead to 4-3 after the Pioneer defense committed two errors and allowed a hit, plating two Concordia runners.  Junior Vin Fondacaro (Pompton Plains, N.J./Pequannock) singled through the left side, scoring Flores who had reached on a fielder's choice in the sixth.  A single through the right side by Somers plated Tim O'Shea (Oak Ridge, N.J./Jefferson), who had pinch ran for Derner, to give the Pioneers a 6-3 advantage going into the last inning.

Freshman reliever Tom Gaccione (Little Falls, N.J./Passaic Valley Regional) suffered the loss for the Pioneers, tossing 1.2 innings allowing four runs (none earned).  Sophomore Matt Serra (Kearny, N.J./Kearny) threw 5.0 innings as the starter, surrendering three runs (one earned), striking out two.

Montanile finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Somers was 2-for-3 with two RBI.

William Paterson will play Wesleyan beginning at 1:00 p.m. MT on Friday, March 23.