New Rochelle, N.Y. – The Monroe College Baseball team had a pair of solid pitching performances and a doubleheader sweep despite bitterly cold, rainy weather during their games against UConn Avery Point on Sunday. They took game one, 9-1, and completed the day with a 12-4 victory.
 
Antonio Frias and Manuel Pizarro combined to allow just two hits in game one. Frias threw 5.2 innings to earn his first win of the year. He allowed just two hits and one run and struck out 12. Pizarro ended the game with a strikeout.
 
Monroe took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when an RBI single by Troy Davern scored Wayne Roberts. Davern led the team with a pair of hits and scored twice in the game. The Mustangs pushed the lead to 3-0 with a pair of unearned runs in the second inning. Andy Karlan and Christopher Palermo both walked, then moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. They came in to score when a Roberts smash to third was thrown wide of first for a two-base error.
 
The lead went to 5-0 for Monroe with two more runs in the fourth inning. Shadrach Meulens walked, then moved to second on a fielding error. He got to third on a fielder's choice and scored on a Palermo sacrifice fly. The other run came courtesy of an Adonis Garcia RBI double. The score went to 6-0 in the fifth on a pinch-hit RBI single from James Smith that plated Davern.

Avery Point scored in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 6-1, but Monroe ended the game in the bottom of the inning via the eight-run-rule. Isaiah Torres made the score 7-1 on an RBI single, and Meulens ended the game with a fly ball that was misplayed in centerfield, allowing the final two runs to score.
 
Game two saw Joel Urena pitch four innings to earn his first victory of the season. Michael Crispino tossed the final three to earn a save. The two surrendered just four total hits and one earned run.
 
After Avery Point took a 1-0 lead with a run in the second, Monroe responded with three in the bottom of the third inning. Davern and Adonis Garcia reached via walks. They moved up to second and third when the pitcher balked. Meulens drove in Davern with an RBI groundout to tie the game. The Mustangs pulled ahead when Garcia scored on a wild pitch. The final run of the inning came on a solo home run to right by Kevin Garcia. Monroe was up 3-1.
 
UConn answered right away by scoring three times in their half of the fourth and regaining the lead at 4-3. Monroe took control right away and never looked back. An RBI triple from Carlos Torres scored Palermo with the tying run. Next, Davern hit a slow roller up the line that the fielder let roll. The ball hit the third base bag for an infield single that brought in Carlos Torres and put Monroe up, 5-4.
 
The score went to 6-4 an inning later, when an RBI single by Dawy Lebron plated Karlan. Lebron and Isaiah Torres each drove in a pair of runs as part of a six-run sixth inning that helped the team earn a 12-4 win.
 
The team improved to 7-10 with the doubleheader sweep. They will return to action on Thursday, March 30th, in Middletown, New York, for a 4:00 PM game with Orange County Community College.