PURCHASE, NY – A quartet of Valiants posted three-hit games while the defense turned double plays in three straight innings for the Manhattanville College baseball team Friday afternoon in a 10-3 win over FDU-Florham in a MAC Freedom game from Manhattanville Field.

Graduate student Chris Conklin (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland), sophomores Stephen Merrill (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and Matt Lynch (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), and freshman Jack Matero (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) combined for 12 of the Valiants' 16 hits and five of their nine RBI's, while junior Luke Scoggins (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) added two RBI's and senior Austin Pollack (Harrison, N.Y./) and sophomore Peter Iannarilli (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) each added a hit, an RBI, and a run scored. AJ Yurista had three hits for FDU-Florham (5-9).

Manhattanville (5-7) put three on the board in the first, with Matero driving in Conklin for the first run of the game. After Pollack drove home Scoggins with an RBI groundout, Iannarilli singled home Matero.

In the second, with two out and nobody on, Conklin and senior Danny Gallagher (Nanuet, N.Y./Paramus Catholic) both singled. After Scoggins walked, Matero drove in Gallagher with a single to left, but Conklin was thrown out at the plate trying to score.

In the top of the third, with runners at the corners and one out, Conklin induced a double play ground out from Reynaldo Diaz, keeping the Devils off the board. In the Manhattanville third, following a one-out walk to Iannarilli, senior Nick Campana (Yonkers, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Elementary) slapped a double down the left field, and Merrill followed with a single to left, scoring Iannarilli.

In the top of the fourth, with the bases loaded and one out, Justin Proteau (Wolcott, Conn./Canterbury School) came on in relief and induced another double play off the bat of Kevin Smiegocki. Senior Pat Badia (Somers, N.Y./Somers) produced a third double play in the top of the fifth off the bat of Garrett Ruoff.

The Devils turned two Manhattanville errors into three runs in the top of the sixth, but the Valiants turned two FDU errors into three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, with Conklin and Scoggins providing an RBI single and sacrifice fly, respectively. Scoggins added a second sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.

Merrill drove in the final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth with a single, scoring Pollack. Badia, who pitched the final five innings, retired seven of the last nine batters he faced, and didn't allow a runner past second base after the sixth inning.

The two teams continue their conference series with a doubleheader tomorrow, scheduled for 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. from Madison, N.J.