Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 WAYNE, N.J. – The big inning turned out to be the Manhattanville baseball team's biggest issue on Sunday afternoon as they were turned away by the William Paterson Pioneers in both ends of a doubleheader by the scores of 15-0 and 9-4. The Pioneers scored nine runs in the third inning of game one, and nine more in the fourth inning of game two to blow both games open respectively.

The first game started with senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) grounding out on a ball that was corralled by the shortstop behind the second base bag. Up next was sophomore Nick Euvino (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac), who knocked a single up the middle and stole second two batters later. William Paterson starter Steve Coral got out of the inning allowing just the one hit.

In the bottom of the first, Valiant starter Alex Basso (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) was touched up for three runs with the biggest blow of the inning coming on a two-run single by Vin Fondacaro that bounced over the glove of third baseman Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond). The Pioneers tacked on one more run in the first and took the lead to the bottom of the third inning.

In the third, the Pioneers sent 15 batters to the plate while scoring nine times off a combination of Basso and junior Joe Pareres (Bronxville, N.Y./Fordham Prep) to make the game 12-0 and take a commanding lead. William Paterson added one more run in each of the next three innings and increased its lead to 15-0.

The Valiant offense had been silenced until the top of the seventh inning when senior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) reached on a one-out single to centerfield. Freshman Jordanis Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) walked, and pinch-hitter Sam Garito (New Rochelle, N.Y./Iona Prep) singled to load the bases. Pioneer reliever Frankie Colasante got freshman Kurt Hommen (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) to pop out and retire junior Elias Tsouristakis via strikeout to end the ball game.

On the mound, Basso took the loss after going 2 1/3-plus innings and allowing three earned runs on eight hits with two strikeouts. Pareres pitched two innings and allowed one earned run on eight hits and a walk, sophomore Zack Zareva (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional) came on to finish the game and allowed a run on a walk and two hit batters.

In game two, the Valiants got several runners on base but Euvino was caught stealing and senior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) was picked off first to end the early threat.

The bottom of the first saw sophomore Michael Lyon (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) go to the mound and allowed a lead-off single, but settled down and retired the next three batters in order to send the game to the top of the second inning.

In the top of the second, the Valiants scratched across their first run of the afternoon as Bucci led off the frame with a bloop single to centerfield. Sophomore Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) singled under the glove of the third baseman to put two runners on base with no one out. Two batters later Garito singled to load the bases, followed by Hommen, who drove the ball to right field for a sacrifice fly to bring home Bucci.

The Valiants tacked on a second run in the top of the fourth inning as Guerra reached on a one-out single. Nunez followed with a base knock off the second base bag, followed by Garito grounding out to advance the runners. Hommen reached on a dribbler back to the mound to bring Guerra home and put Manhattanville up by a pair.

In the bottom of the fourth, Lyon ran into trouble with little help from his defense behind him as 14 Pioneers came to the plate as the home team chased around nine runs and also chased Lyon from the game in the process. The Valiants committed two errors in the field behind Lyon, which led to the second nine-run inning of the day for the Pioneers.

Manhattanville went down in order through the top of the fifth inning to send the game to the bottom half of the frame. Graduate student Donny Pitasi (Mount Kisco, N.Y./Fox Lane) came on to pitch and allowed a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield, but bounced back and got Tyler Garguilo to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. After a walk, Pitasi got out of the inning with a groundout.

Freshman Jake McGrath (Pound Ridge, N.Y./Fox Lane) collected his first career hit to lead off the top of the sixth inning, and advanced to second on an error while moving up to third on a groundout. However, Adam Miller retired each of the next three Valiants to bat and moved the game along to the next inning.

Junior Ryan Blinderman (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde) came on for the bottom of the sixth and retired the first batter on one pitch. After a one-out walk, Blinderman got Haughney to ground out and Abel on a comebacker to end the inning. The Valiants were able to scratch across a pair of runs on a groundout by LoVetere and a base hit by Ferguson but that was all the Valiants could muster offensively as they fell by a 9-4 score.

Earning the win was starter James Young, who went five innings and allowed the two Valiant runs. Taking the loss was Lyon (0-2) after yielding six earned runs on 10 hits over 3 1/3-plus innings. Ponce, Pitasi and Blinderman combined to retire eight batters while not allowing a run late in the game.

Manhattanville (2-6) will return home on Tuesday afternoon for its home opener against Mount St. Mary with first pitch slated for 3 p.m. William Paterson (3-1) will next play on Wednesday afternoon on Long Island against the Merchant Marine Academy at 3:30 p.m.