TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University baseball team opened its first home Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series vs. Monmouth on Friday afternoon at John B. Schuerholz Park.
 
The Hawks (11-14, 1-3 CAA) took the lead in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly. The Tigers (9-17, 2-2 CAA) answered in the bottom half, taking a 3-1 lead on Brian Heckelman's three-run home run to left field. Towson pushed its lead to four in the second and sixth in the fifth, going on to win by a score of 7-1/
 
Key Stats

• Towson starter Andrew Luczak improved to 2-1 on the year with a final line of one run allowed on two hits and two walks in 6.0 innings pitched. Luczak struck out two batters. Matt Leikus secured his first save of the season, tossing 3.0 one-hit, scoreless innings. Leikus struck out two and walked one.
• Towson catcher Brian Heckelman finished the day 3-for-4 with his third home run of the season, three RBIs and two runs scored.

 
How it Happened

• Monmouth jumped out to a lead in the first inning by way of a sacrifice fly.
• In the bottom half, a walk and catcher's interference put two runners on base with Brian Heckelman due up. The catcher clobbered a 2-2 pitch to left field to put the Tigers out in front 3-1.
• In the home half of the second, Jordan Peyton legged out an infield single to shortstop with runners on second and third, extending Towson's lead to 4-1. Later in the frame, Nich Francuzenko singled up the middle to push the edge to four runs after two.
• With two runners on in the bottom of the fifth, Taye Robinson hit a two-run double off the center field fence to push the advantage to 7-1.
• Andrew Luczak saw the minimum in his final frame, the top of the sixth. Matt Leikus began his outing in the same fashion in the seventh.
• Leikus allowed one hit and hit one batter over the final two frames to secure his first save of the season.

 
Inside the Numbers

• Heckelman recorded his fourth three-hit game of the season, leading the team. It is his fifth multi-hit game. The catcher also picked up his fourth multi-RBI game of the season, tied for second on the team this season.
• Luczak has now pitched back-to-back 6.0 inning outings, this time with just one earned run allowed in the start. He improved his ERA to 4.13, leading the team among qualified starters.
• Leikus recorded his first save of the season, tossing three scoreless innings in relief. It's his longest outing of the season and just his third scoreless appearance.

 
On Deck:
The series between the Tigers and Hawks continues tomorrow at 1 p.m. at John B. Schuerholz Park.