Salisbury, MD (5/6/09)– Montclair State rallied for three runs in its final two at bats to tie the game at 5-5, however a two-run home by No. 3 Salisbury in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted the Sea Gulls past the Red Hawks, 7-5 on Wednesday.

First baseman Mike Celenza (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) hit a one-out, two-run shot to right field for his 12th home run of the year as Salisbury improved to 37-6 on the season. Senior leftfielder Ed Kloepping (Pennsville, NJ / Pennsville) had two hits for MSU, which dropped its second straight extra-inning contest and its third this season.

Andrew Miller led off the bottom of the 10th in a bunt that went for a base hit and stole second putting the winning run in scoring position. But reliever Scott Shan (Toms River, NJ / Toms River East) made a heads up play on a sacrifice attempt getting Miller at third for the first out. But Celenza followed with his home run as Montclair suffered its second straight loss.

MSU trailed 5-2 after five innings, but chipped away at the lead. Montclair got two back in the eighth inning. Adam Bergman (Berkeley Heights, NJ / Gov. Livingston) led off with a pinch-hit double and back to back walks loaded the bases. Pinch-runner Timothy Swift (Tenalfy, NJ / Tenafly) scored on a double play to cut the lead to two and Kloepping delivered a two-out single up the bring the Red Hawks within a run.

In the ninth, Zachary Brown (Green Village, NJ / Morristown) walked and went to second on a sacrifice by Swift. Jay Bionde (Pompton Plains, NJ / Pequannock) bounced a ball to shortstop, however the Sea Gulls committed and error allowing Brown to scored with the game-tying run.

Salisbury took a 1-0 lead in the first, but Montclair scored twice in the top of the second to take the lead. Kloepping and Mike Ercolano (Vernon, NJ / Vernon) opened the inning with consecutive base hits and moved up a base on a wild pitch. Jason Lopez (West New York, NJ / Memorial) brought home Kloepping with a ground out and Brown followed with another as MSU led 2-1.

Salisbury answered with a run in its half of the second and added three more in the fourth. Celenza had the big hit, a two-run single as the Sea Gulls went up 5-2.