The Montville Mustangs will venture away from home to challenge the Pompton Lakes Cardinals at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Columbia hit Montville with a four-run first inning on Monday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Mustangs fell just short of the Cougars by a score of 5-4.
Kyle Cinella was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he didn't allow a single earned run over 5.1 innings pitched.
On the hitting side, Richie Mattina was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one double. That stolen base was his first of the season. Nick Del Guidice was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Pompton Lakes). Everything went their way against Manchester Regional on Monday as they made off with a 21-0 victory. Winning may never get old, but the Cardinals sure are getting used to it with their fourth in a row.
Jon Popovich made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (and not a single walk). Popovich was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with two runs and one RBI.
In other batting news, Chad McConnell was incredible, firing off two home runs and five RBI while going 2-for-3. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in runs (two). Another player making a difference was Tim Riche, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs, two doubles, and two RBI.
Pompton Lakes kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 15 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least nine hits in four consecutive matches.
Pompton Lakes pushed their record up to 9-3 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.7 runs on average over those games. As for Montville, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-8.
Montville couldn't quite finish off Pompton Lakes in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 and fell 6-4. Can the Mustangs avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
