MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – Making his first pitching start in nearly three years, Felician College fifth-year senior right-hander Vic Monteagudo (West Palm Beach, Fla.) allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings as the Golden Falcons salvaged a split of two games on Sunday with a 3-1 non-conference baseball victory over regionally-ranked Southern Connecticut State University at Big Rock Stadium. Earlier on a bone-chilling day in coastal North Carolina, Felician (2-1) lost to Merrimack College, 8-2.

Monteagudo's previous collegiate start was a loss at Wilmington (Del.) University during the 2010 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament. Due to injury, he spent the 2011 season as a position player, and took a medical "redshirt" in 2012.

On Sunday, Monteagudo (1-0) picked up a career-high 10 strikeouts, walked three batters, and allowed six hits. He became the eighth pitcher in the 14-year history of the Felician program to record 100 career strikeouts, currently with 104. Three Golden Falcon relievers combined for 2 2/3 hitless innings, with freshman John Holland (Jackson, N.J.) working around a two-out walk in the ninth to record his first career save. Southern Connecticut State (2-1) is ranked No. 8 in the preseason NCAA Division II East Region writers' poll.

Felician, the designated visiting team, broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the top of the fifth inning off of Owl starter Steve Landell (Higganum, Conn.) (0-1). With runners on first and third bases and none out, freshman Ralph Caccavale (North Massapequa, N.Y.) muscled a run-scoring single to left field. Two batters later, Joe Petosa (Spotswood, N.J.) beat the Owls' return throw to first on a potential double-play grounder, scoring Jay Collazo (Wall, N.J.) with the game's final run.

The Golden Falcons took a 1-0 lead on Caccavale's squeeze bunt in the third inning, but SCSU answered with an RBI single from Will Hindinger (Hamden, Conn.) in the fourth. The Owls, however, would strand 11 baserunners in the game. Reliever Cole Bryant (Newington, Conn.) kept Southern in contention with four shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out six.

Caccavale and Mike Farrell (Red Bank, N.J.) had two hits apiece for Felician and Caposio stole three bases and scored twice. Matt Burns (Cheshire, Conn.) and A.J. Roleau (Westborough, Mass.) each picked up two hits for the Owls.

In its afternoon game, Felician saw its pitchers issue seven walks and three hit batsmen as both teams battled high winds and temperatures in the 30s. Merrimack (2-0), the designated home team, scored in five of its eight offensive innings and led, 7-0, after five.

Junior right-hander Alek Morency (Nashua, N.H.) (1-0) pitched six shutout innings for the Warriors, giving up four hits, striking out seven batters, and walking one. Freshman lefty Chris Falcone (Staten Island, N.Y.) suffered the loss in his first career start for Felician, yielding five runs (four earned) on six hits in 3 1/3 frames.

Merrimack's Eddie Newton (North Billerica, Mass.) went 3 for 5. Petosa and transfer Aaron Brill (West Palm Beach, Fla.) had two hits each for the Golden Falcons.