COCOA BEACH, FLA. – The Manhattanville baseball team continues to impress early on in the season as they picked up two more victories over Hilbert College on the third day of their Spring Break trip. The Valiants led by great pitching allowed only one run in the doubleheader, defeating the Hawks 12-1 and 7-0 on Monday afternoon in non-conference play.  

Senior Chad Wallace (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) and Sophomore Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) each had four runs batted in on the day to lead the Valiants on the offensive side.  Senior Alex Braverman (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) and freshman Ryan Blinderman (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde) added a pair of RBIs in the first game, as the Valiants capitalized on three errors and 10 hits.

Pitching overall was spectacular on the day, allowing six hits overall and just one run. Graduate Student Alex Mason (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Rye Neck) was brilliant on the mound allowing the only hit to the first batter of the opening game. Mason finished with four punch outs in five innings. Freshman Matt Mullin (New York, N.Y./St. John's Prep) impressed the coaching staff working two innings and allowed just one run but had two strike outs.

The Valiants continue to score early in games and led 8-0 after three innings of play. The team added four more runs in the middle portion of the game with all 12 runs coming before the sixth inning.

In the first inning, junior Dan Fiorito (Yonkers, N.Y./Fordham Prep) and LoVetere batted in both runs, beginning with a single by Fiorito and a sacrifice fly by LoVetere. Manhattanville added four more runs in the second inning as Wallace scored a pair with a single, and then Braverman followed with an RBI double. In the third frame, Blinderman singled home a pair of runs to take the 8-0 edge.

LoVetere continued to pressure the Hawks in the fourth inning with two more RBIs on a single that scored Braverman and Fiorito. Later on in the inning, sophomore Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) scored freshman Billy Brusack (Yonkers, N.Y./Iona Prep) on a sacrifice fly to give the Valiants an 11-run advantage. In the following inning, the Valiants concluded their offensive threat with an RBI by Brusck off an error.

In the second game, Fiorito and junior John Keenan (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) combined for a five hit shutout and fanned eight hawks. The offense was still active scoring seven more runs in the middle half of the game.  Wallace led the team with a pair of RBIs, while sophomores John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) and Raul Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y./DeWitt Clinton) led the team with two hits each.

Manhattanville scored twice in the third, fourth and sixth innings, respectively, and added a single run in the fifth inning to take both games over Hilbert. In the third inning, Wallace scored a pair off a triple to give the designated host a 2-0 lead. In the following inning, Braverman scored off a wild pitch and then sophomore Matt Petrunti (East Granby, Conn./Loomis-Chaffee) connected on an RBI single scoring freshman Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) to complete the two-run at-bat. In the fifth, LoVetere sent home his fourth run with a single that scored Fiorito.

The Valiants added their last two runs of the day in the sixth inning on RBI singles by Rodriguez and Bucci.

Manhattanville (5-1) will conclude their Florida Spring Break Trip tomorrow with a nine-inning contest against Hilbert College at 10:00 a.m. The team will come back to Purchase on Thursday against local rival SUNY Purchase before entering Freedom Conference play on Friday against DeSales University. Both home games will begin at 3 p.m. from Manhattanville Field.