DALLAS, PA – The short-handed Manhattanville College baseball team dropped a 13-5 MAC Freedom game to Misericordia Friday afternoon in the opener of a three-game conference series.
Freshman
Hathaway Roper (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) went 1-for-4, hitting his first collegiate home run, while sophomore
Peter Iannarilli (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) and junior
Kieran Corrigan (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) each had two hits and freshman
Luke Shaffer (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) was 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored for Manhattanville (11-13, 7-6 MACF), who were without the services of three players who've all started at least 19 games this season. Steve Weisensee, Shane Highes, and Conor Smith each had two hits and scored two runs for Misericordia (20-10, 12-4 MACF).
Manhattanville stranded the bases loaded in the first, preceding a three-run frame for the Cougars. Roper's home run, a solo shot, came with two out in the second, but Misericordia got the run right back in the bottom half of the inning, taking a 4-1 lead to the third.
Shaffer doubled, then came around to score on Iannarilli's team-leading 30
th RBI of the season in the third, trimming the deficit to two, but Kenny Jarema took junior
Francisco Jaile (Hartsdale, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) deep for a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning, opening a five-run Misericordia lead; the Cougars tacked on a fourth run later in the inning for an 8-2 lead.
The Valiants put a three-spot on the scoreboard in the fifth, slicing their deficit in half. After sophomore
Matt Lynch (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and freshman
Jack Matero (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) sandwiched singles around a Shaffer hit by pitch, Iannarilli singled to right, scoring Lynch. Sophomore
Stephen Merrill (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) followed with a sacrifice fly and, after a bunt single by Corrigan, fellow sophomore
Joseph Silvestri (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) drove in Matero with a groundout to second base.
That was as close as the Valiants would get, however, as Misericordia added three in the sixth and one in both the seventh and eighth, and Manhattanville failed to get a runner past second base over the final four innings.
The teams will complete their conference series tomorrow with a doubleheader at Manhattanville Field. First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
