PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Senior third baseman Juan Perdomo Jr. collected a walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as Montclair State beat No. 12 Marietta 5-4 in the Snowbird Classic on Monday afternoon.
Perdomo's heroics helped the Red Hawks (2-3) earn their first victory in the six-game slate at the Snowbird Classic as Montclair rallied back from a two-run deficit in the seventh inning.
Knotted at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, senior shortstop Cody Pace led off the inning with a double to left center. Christopher Reynolds sacrificed Pace to third and the Pioneers elected to walk the bases loaded issuing free passes to Philip Scott and P.J. Jennings. Marietta reliever Jim Luyster then got a big strikeout for the second out before Perdomo bounced a single through the right side scoring Pace with the winning run.
Reynolds tied the game in the seventh with a two-run single back through the middle of the infield scoring senior second baseman Lou Martini and freshman rightfielder Matt Long. The Red Hawks had a chance to take the lead but Luyster got a strikeout to end the inning.
The comeback made a winner out of lefthander John Silvestri, who pitched the final 2.2 innings of relief allowing four hits and striking out two. Silvestri (1-0) got the last two outs in the seventh after Marietta had taken the lead and then pitched scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth.
Marietta took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first but Montclair answered with two in the bottom of the second. Reynolds doubled and scored on a single by Jennings. Long put MSU in front with an infield single with the bases loaded. Marietta tied the game in the third before adding its two runs in the seventh for the 4-2 advantage.
Long finished 3-for-5 while Reynolds, Perdomo and Keith Murphy each had two as both teams recorded 13 hits in the game. Junior lefthander Jonathan Torregroza went the first six innings allowing two runs and nine hits. Torregroza struck out four.
