PURCHASE, NY – A 30-run, 28-hit slugfest lit up the Manhattanville Field scoreboard Friday afternoon, as the Manhattanville College baseball team and the Wilkes Colonels traded haymakers in a 16-15 Manhatanville win in an eight-inning, darkness-shortened affair in the teams' MAC Freedom series opener.

Sophomore Peter Iannarilli (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a game-high five RBI's for Manhattanville (9-10, 5-4 MACF), while junior Luke Scoggins (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) and sophomore Matt Lynch (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) went a combined 5-for-10, and sophomore Stephen Merrill (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and freshman Jack Matero (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) both launched their second home runs of the season. Joe Champi was 4-for-6 -- including a home run and two doubles – with three RBI's for Wilkes (11-11, 6-4 MACF). Matt Reinert and Brady Wing went a combined 5-for-8 with three runs scored and four RBI's for the Colonels.

Champi launched a solo shot in the top of the first inning, but Iannarilli quickly put the Valiants in front in the bottom half of the inning, doubling home Merrill, Scoggins, and senior Austin Pollack (Harrison, N.Y./). Wilkes grabbed the lead back with five in the top of the second, but the Valiants put six on the board in the bottom of the inning. After three straight walks to begin the inning to freshman Luke Shaffer (Monroe, Conn./Masuk), senior Nick Campana (Yonkers, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Elementary), and Merrill, graduate student Chris Conklin (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) doubled to left center, scoring Shaffer and Campana. After Iannarilli was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases with two outs, Matero reached on an error and Merrill scored to tie the game. Lynch followed with an opposite field double to left center, clearing the bases and putting Manhattanville up 9-6.

After three straight scoreless half-innings, the Valiants added two more in the bottom of the fourth on a single by Lynch and a sacrifice fly from Shaffer, but Wilkes tied the game at 11 with five more in the top of the fifth, with Champi driving in the tying run on a two-out double.

Merrill wasted little time putting the Valiants back in front in the bottom half of the inning, launching the fourth pitch of the bottom of the inning over the fence in dead center. After Iannarilli singled home Scoggins and Pollack, Matero sent a 2-2 delivery well beyond the right field wall, putting Manhattanville up 16-11.

From there, Wilkes chipped away at the lead, adding one in the sixth and two in the seventh, but left four men on base across the two innings. In the top of the eighth, two hit by pitches and a throwing error on a double steal drew Wilkes within a run with the tying run at third base, but senior William Mohr (Allendale, N.J./Northern Highlands) struck out Champi and induced a two-out groundout to himself to close it out.

The teams are back in action in a doubleheader from Edwardsville, PA, closing out their MAC Freedom series. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.