Montclair State University used timely hitting and took advantage of shaky Wartburg College defense to carve out a 7-2 win over the Knights in an elimination game at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships at Fox Cities Stadium.

Wartburg (41-9) made seven errors, including five in the ninth inning, and managed just six hits. Montclair (39-7-1) pounded out nine hits and put the game away with a pair of gift runs in the ninth.

"We had more errors than we had hits," quipped Wartburg head coach Joel Holst. "We've been a good offensive team all year. I don't know what happened to us here. We had some guys hit some slumps when we didn't need it."

Montclair advances to play Allegheny College (38-8) on Monday. The game time will be determined by which team wins the Allegheny-University of St. Thomas winner's bracket game.

"We kept hanging in there," Montclair head coach Norm Schoenig said. "I think the big key was (starting pitcher) George (Gallagher) going to the mound and establishing himself."

Gallagher improved his record to 6-2 by pitching 6 2-3 innings of five-hit ball. He struck out one and walked three.

"I was trying to hit spots and throw strikes because I knew my defense was doing a great job," Gallagher said.

Montclair jumped on the board in the top of the first inning when lead-off hitter Dave Wurst was hit by a pitch and scored on Brian Ellerson's two-out single. Wartburg countered in its half of the first when lead-off hitter Jude Burger walked and scored on Andy Fischels' two-out double to tie the score at 1-1.

The Red Hawks made it 2-1 in the fourth when Frank Longo drew a one-out walk, went to second on a passed ball and scored on Marc Houser's two-out single. Montclair made it 3-1 in the fifth and the rally started on a Wurst walk, which sent Wartburg starter Gary Hess (6-1) to the showers. Chris Baran greeted reliever Eric Kaestner with a run-scoring double and Montclair led 3-1.

Montclair added a pair of runs in the seventh. Jeff Schriber led off with a single and Wurst followed with a walk. After a ground out, Craig Conway singled to score Schriber. With two outs, Brian Ellerson singled to score Wurst and the Red Hawks led 5-1.

The Knights had a chance to make a big dent in the Montclair lead, but the Red Hawks had a pair of sparkling defensive plays to snuff out the rally. With runners at first and second, Conway made a diving stop on Vernon Birmingham's grounder at third and managed to get a force out at second base. Patrick Lowe followed with a single to score Fischels and cut the lead to 5-2. 

Montclair then replaced Gallagher with Kevin Kakowski-Kuhlman, who got Jay Whannel to ground into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.

"You can gave the best pitchers in the world, but if you can't make the plays, you're going to struggle," Schoenig said.

Montclair then sealed the win with a pair of runs in the ninth without the benefit of a base hit. The Knights made five errors in the inning, including three on one play.