MYRTLE BEACH, S.C., March 17, 2018 – The Monroe College baseball team continued its South Carolina trip on Saturday, its third day at the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, with another pair of contests. The Mustangs picked up a 12-1 victory over Jefferson Community College to open the day, but fell, 7-5, to John Wood Community College in Saturday's finale. The Mustangs move to 7-5 overall after Saturday's matchups.
 
Game 1: Monroe 12, Jefferson 1
The Mustangs got off to a quick start on Saturday when Edwin Feliciano Jr. singled to lead off the game, and then quickly stole second. He moved over to third on a groundout by Marquis Orozco, and subsequently scored on a groundout to short by Edgardo Bernard, making it an early 1-0 lead for Monroe.
 
Jefferson tied the game in the bottom of the second when Kevin Kapfer hit an RBI singled up the middle, knotting things up at 1-1.
 
Monroe started a rally in the second with a leadoff single from Orozco. Leandy Castro later singled through the left side, and moved up on the throw to put runners on second and third. Iasid Bernal then knocked in Orozco with a single to put Monroe ahead, 2-1. Juan Torres followed with a single to third, scoring Castro to take a two-run lead. Abner Vincenty kept the streak going with another RBI single, scoring Bernal to go up by three. Later, with the bases loaded, Torres scored on a passed ball to push Monroe's lead to four. Then, with two outs, Feliciano Jr. doubled to center, bringing in two more runs to cap off a six-run inning and leave the Mustangs ahead, 7-1, in the third.
 
The Mustangs put together another big inning in the seventh to give themselves a comfortable lead late in the game. Torres tripled to start the inning, and was quickly knocked in on an RBI single from Vincenty for a seven-run lead. Javier Ortiz later hit a pinch-hit RBI single to center, scoring Vincenty to make it 9-1. Feliciano Jr. then brought in the 10th run on an RBI groundout to first. With two outs, Castro ripped a two-RBI double to right, bringing home the final two runs of the game and put the Mustangs up, 12-1.
 
Andrew Pena picked up his first win of the season after tossing five innings and allowing just one run and five hits. He also struck out four batters. Francisco Perez tossed two scoreless innings in relief. Joshua Harvey shouldered the loss for Jefferson after allowing seven runs in 2.1 frames.
 
Feliciano Jr. led the way with three RBIs and a run scored after going 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base. Vincenty hit 3-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs, a stolen base and a double. Torres scored twice and knocked in one more after batting 2-for-4 with a triple and a pair of stolen bases. Castro finished 2-for-4 with a stolen base, two RBIs and a run.
 
Game 2: John Wood 7, Monroe 5
The Blazers got on the scoreboard first in Saturday's finale when Jose Rivera hit a two-out RBI single to make it a 1-0 lead for John Wood.
 
The Mustangs did not stay down for long after a rally in their first at bat. Feliciano Jr. led off with a walk, followed by a single for Orozco. Michael Crispino then drew another walk to load the bases, and a passed ball allowed Feliciano Jr. to score and tie the game. Shadrach Meulens then walked to load the bases once again, and Troy Davern added another base-on-balls to give Monroe a 2-1 lead. With two outs, A failed pickoff attempt allowed Crispino to score from third, leaving the Mustangs with a 3-1 lead.
 
The Blazers swiftly loaded the bases when the first three batters of the second reached base on a walk and a pair of singles. A wild pitch then allowed Doug Barker to score and get John Wood back within a run.
 
A walk and an error allowed the Mustangs to put two runners on without an out in the third. Ryan Hartigan then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position, which worked out when Xeno Daal hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Meulens to make it a 4-2 game.
 
John Wood quickly put two runners on base in the fourth. A failed pickoff attempt then allowed one runner to score, and a passed ball shortly after brought in the other to tie the game at 4-4. Marcus Gonzalez then doubled with a runner on to put another two runners in scoring position, both of which were knocked in on sacrifice flies to put the Blazers ahead, 6-4.
 
Davern reached on an infield single in the bottom of the fifth, then moved to second on a balk. Hartigan then singled him in with a hit to center, getting the Mustangs back within a run.
 
An error and a sacrifice bunt put Cody Brown on second for the Blazers in the top of the seventh. Cornelius Lee then singled him in, giving John Wood a 7-5 lead that it would not relinquish.
 
John Wood's Colton Blanchard picked up the win in relief to improve to 2-0 on the season. Jason Alvarez shouldered the loss for Monroe to drop to 0-2 on the year.
 
Davern finished 1-for-3 in the loss, knocking in a run and scoring another. Hartigan hit 1-for-3 with an RBI. Orozco batted 1-for-2 with a run scored.
 
The Mustangs finish their trip to South Carolina on Sunday, March 18, when they take on MacMurray College's JV team at 9 a.m. at Griffith Field.
 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 26 teams competing across nine sports. There are 18 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's rugby, and the newly added club women's rugby team, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Monroe Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has six teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level as of the fall of 2017.
 
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe College Athletics), Twitter (@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (@monroemustangs).