Greensboro, NC (3/1/08) – Junior Stephen Piscitello (Hauppague, NY / Hauppague) homered, drove in two runsand recorded the final out in the ninth to pick up the save as Montclair State opened its 2008 season with a 7-5 victory over Greensboro College on Saturday.

Senior Rob Bowness (Sparta, NJ / Seton Hall Prep) belted a solo shot while senior Jeff Miller (Wyckoff, NJ / Ramapo) went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Red Hawks, who opened their season with a victory for the 45th time in their history (45-31-2). It was the first meeting between MSU and the Pride since the 2001 campaign, a 14-1 Montclair victory.

Montclair snapped a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with three runs. Miller tripled with one out and that was followed by a walk to Lou Politan (Livingston, NJ /Livingston). Politan would steal second and Miller came home as the ball got away from an infield. Kevin Cuozzi (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) added an RBI double and he scored as sophomore Andrew Himmelfarb (Nyack, NY / Nyack) delivered an RBI single.

Greensboro would get a run back in the botton half of the fourth, but Montclair answered right back in the fifth as Miller doubled home Bowness, who drew a leadoff walk for a 4-1 Montclair State lead.

The Pride plated another run in the bottom of the fifth, however, MSU would extend the lead to 6-2 in the top of the seventh on two swings of the bat. Bowness led off the frame with a solo home run and that was followed by Piscitello.

Greensboro cut the defecit to 6-5 in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of runs, but Piscitello gave the Red Hawks an insurance run in the top of the ninth with an RBI single that scored Michael Nunes (Hazlet, NJ / Raritan). Nunes lead off the inning with a walk and stole second before coming home on the base hit.

Senior lefthander Kevin Dalton (Edison, NJ / Edison) picked up the win in relief as he came on in the top of the fifth inning to get MSU out of a jam. Dalton pitched 2.2 innings allowing one run and three hits, walking one and striking out three.

Piscitello, Miller and Himmelfarb each ahd two hits for the Red Hawks, who wrap up their North Carolina trip on Sunday, March 2 with a 1:00 pm contest against the same Greensboro team.