PURCHASE, NY – Down 4-1 after five innings and 6-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Manhattanville College baseball team rallied to tie the Misericordia University Cougars late before falling in the ninth inning Friday April 12 in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom action from Manhattanville Field.

Freshman Tyler Viscusi (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) finished 3-for-5 with two runs for Manhattanville (14-11, 8-4 MACF) and Jack Matero (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) finished 1-for-2 with three RBI's; he was also hit by a pitch twice. Senior Kieran Corrigan (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and juniors Matt Lynch (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) and Stephen Merrill (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) were all 1-for-4 with a run scored while senior Luke Scoggins (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) and sophomore Hathaway Roper (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) both added an RBI for the Valiants. Five different players finished with two hits for Misericordia (21-8, 10-3 MACF) and Tyler Holzapfel had two RBI's.

Misericordia struck first in the second inning when a pair of errors led to two unearned runs off Manhattanville freshman Alby Ciuffetelli (Mahopac, N.Y./Yorktown). The Cougars tacked on two more in the top of the fifth for a 4-0 lead.
Matero got the Valiants on the board with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth, but the Cougars pushed their lead out to 6-1 with two more in the top of the seventh.

Viscusi led off the bottom of the seventh, reaching on an error before advancing to third on a double to right by Lynch. Matero followed with another double, driving in Viscusi and Lynch. After Corrigan singled, a passed ball scored Matero and moved Corrigan down to second. After Scoggins walked, sophomore Luke Shaffer (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) reached on a fielder's choice with Scoggins being forced out at second, putting runners on the corners with two out. Roper followed with an RBI single, cutting the Manhattanville deficit to a single run, 6-5.

With the Valiants having batted around in the seventh, Viscusi led off the eighth with a single to right, advancing to second on a Lynch sac bunt. After Matero was hit by a pitch, Scoggins singled to left, plating Viscusi and tying the game.

In the Misericordia ninth, a leadoff walk, a single and fielding error by Manhattanville and a wild pitch pushed the go-ahead run across. Merrill drew a two-out walk in the Manhattanville ninth, but was stranded by Kyle Melahn who earned the win with three innings of relief.

The two teams wrap up their MAC Freedom series tomorrow in Dallas, PA with a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.