PURCHASE, NY – The Manhattanville College baseball team scored eight runs in the eighth inning, but came up just short in a 9-8 loss to Purchase College Wednesday afternoon in the Anderson Hill Road Diamond Duel.
The Valiants' outburst was the program's greatest single inning total since an eight-run third inning on March 13, 2016 against John Jay.
Manhattanville (2-4) fell behind 3-0 early, as Purchase (7-3) turned two Valiant errors into two runs in the second inning. Another Manhattanville error in the bottom of the fourth opened up a four-run frame for the Panthers, who tacked on two more in the bottom of the sixth to make it 9-0. Purchase starting pitcher Jonathon Deacon left after seven innings, having allowed just two hits and five total baserunners.
Sophomore
Peter Iannarilli (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) led off the top of the eighth with an infield single off reliever Nicholas Torres and seniors
Austin Pollack (Harrison, N.Y./) and
Danny Gallagher (Nanuet, N.Y./Paramus Catholic) both followed with walks. After sophomore
Luke Tebolt (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) drove in Iannarilli on a fielder's choice, junior
Luke Scoggins (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) and freshman
Jack Matero (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) both walked, the latter of which scoring Pollack. After Lorenzo Lagares came on in relief of Torres, sophomore
Stephen Merrill (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) greeted him with a single to right, scoring Tebolt. Sophomore
Ryan Ninivaggi (Throggs Neck, N.Y./Lehman) then walked, scoring Scoggins, and spelling the end for Lagares; freshman
Luke Shaffer (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) then drew the sixth Valiant walk of the inning off reliever Michael Laskowski, scoring Matero.
Two errors by Purchase shortstop Gregory Walsh during Iannarilli and Pollack's second at-bats of the inning resulted in three more runs for Manhattanville; Iannarilli was tagged for the second out following Walsh's second error. Laskowski then struck out Gallagher, the 12
th Manhattanville batter of the frame, to finally end the inning.
In his first appearance of the season, sophomore
Mike Rothman (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) struck out three in two hitless innings of relief for the Valiants.
In the ninth, Scoggins reached on a one-out bunt single, then stole second following a Matero strikeout and stole third during Merrill's at-bat, but the Valiants came up 90 feet short as Merrill grounded out to third base to end the game.
The Valiants head to Pennsylvania tomorrow afternoon for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch against Alvernia.
