PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville offense pounded out 20 hits and sophomore Alexander Mason (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) allowed just two runs in 5.2 innings of relief as the top-seeded Valiant baseball team advanced to the championship round of the Freedom Conference Tournament with a 19-14 win over fifth-seeded FDU-Florham on Friday afternoon at Manhattanville Field.

With the victory, Manhattanville (26-16, 11-5 Freedom) advances to the championship round, where the team will have to defeat third-seeded Alvernia University (25-15, 10-6 Freedom) twice to take home the title and the subsequent NCAA Tournament berth. The first game is slated for tomorrow at noon in Reading, Pa., with the if-necessary game to be played 30 minutes after game one.

Manhattanville and Alvernia met twice during the regular season, with the Valiants sweeping a doubleheader from the Crusaders on March 28, winning by scores of 5-3 and 9-8.

There was no shortage of offensive stars for the Valiants on the afternoon, as seven players recorded multi-hit games. Junior Chris Nastasi (Bayville, N.Y.) led the way for the home team, going 4-for-6 with two home runs, five runs batted in and three runs scored. Classmate Kevin Murray (Valhalla, N.Y.) also had four hits, including a homer, driving in a pair and scoring three times.

Junior Nick Parente (New Rochelle, N.Y.) posted his second three-hit day of the tournament and drove in a run, while classmate A.J. Triano (Rye, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 with a round-tripper, three RBI and a game-high four runs scored.

Mason came up just as big on the mound for Manhattanville, allowing just four hits and two runs in 5.2 innings of relief. The sophomore came on in a tight spot in the fourth inning, with two runners on base and FDU-Florham having already scored eight times in the frame to take a 12-6 lead. The lefty got a pair of fly outs to get out of the inning and then set the Devils down in order in the next two innings, allowing the home team to mount a comeback.

Down by six entering the bottom of the fourth, the Valiants scored three runs to get back into the game. A Gallace single and Murray double put a pair of runners in scoring position to start the inning. An RBI groundout by Triano and a balk by FDU starter Jake Hazen got the team two runs, and an RBI single by Parente halved the deficit after four frames.

Mason needed just 17 pitches to get through the next two innings, and Manhattanville strung together eight hits and scored six times in the bottom of the sixth to regain the lead for good. Nastasi began the rally by smacking a two-run homer to left field, but the remainder of the damage was done solely by singles, as six of the next seven batters reached base via the one-bagger. The last four of those hits drove in one run apiece as the home team used station-to-station baseball to slowly take back the lead.

After the Devils scored twice off Mason in the top of the seventh to get back within a run, the Valiants used the long ball yet again to score a pair of insurance runs in both the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings to secure the lead. Triano sent a towering shot over the scoreboard in left field to put Manhattanville up by three at 17-14 after seven innings, and Murray capitalized on a dropped fly ball that extended the eighth inning by depositing a ball over the left-field fence to cap the scoring.

Mason evened his record at 3-3 with the victory, his first career postseason win. Freshman Glenn Cox (2-3) took the loss for FDU-Florham, giving up five hits and four runs in 1.1 innings of work.