Baseball | 4/13/2019 11:48:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DALLAS, PA – The Manhattanville College baseball team defeated the Misericordia University Cougars for the first time in nearly three years, splitting a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom doubleheader Saturday April 13, winning the opener 5-4 before dropping the finale 12-3.

The win in the first game marked the program's first victory over the Cougars since April 17, 2016. Eight straight losses between 2017 and the series opener Friday April 12 followed before Saturday.

Freshman Tyler Viscusi (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) tossed a complete game in the first game and sophomores Jack Matero (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) and Luke Shaffer (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) combined for three hits, two runs and three RBI's, a two-run homer by Matero the big hit for Manhattanville (14-12, 9-5 MACF).

Matero homered again in game two, as did junior Stephen Merrill (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), but three different players had multiple hits and multiple RBI's for Misericordia (22-9, 11-4 MACF), led by Shane Hughes, who had two hits and three RBI's.

GAME ONE: Misericordia took advantage of a two-out wild pitch on what was a third strike, scoring twice in the bottom of the first for a 2-0 lead. That lead held until the top of the third when junior Matt Lynch (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) singled with two out and Matero with a game-tying homer to right.

Senior Luke Scoggins (Merrick, N.Y./Sanford H. Calhoun) walked leading off the top of the fourth and advanced to third on a single by junior Peter Iannarilli (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South). Luke Shaffer (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) followed with a tie-breaking single and an ensuing throwing error by Cougars catcher Conor Smith advanced Shaffer and Iannarilli a base each. Sophomore Hathaway Roper (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) took advantage of the throwing error, driving in Iannarilli with a sacrifice fly.
Junior Joseph Silvestri (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) followed Roper's sac fly with a single to score Shaffer, giving the Valiants a 5-2 lead. Silvestri's single became a matter of greater importance when Misericordia closed the deficit to just one in the bottom of the inning.

Viscusi stranded runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth while the Valiants defense closed out the game in style with a 6-4-3 double play.

GAME TWO: Sophmore Matt Tuite (Shrub Oak, N.Y./Lakeland) put the Valiants up early with a single in the top of the second, but the Cougars scored two in the bottom of the inning, two more in the third, then, after a Merrill solo home run in the top of the fourth, six more in the bottom of the frame to break the game wide open. Matero launched his second homer of the day in the top of the fifth, but Misericordia added a run in both the fifth and sixth on sacrifice flies.

Matero finished the day 4-for-6 with two runs and three RBI's. Merrill finished the second game 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.

The Valiants continue MAC Freedom play tomorrow on the road with a 2 p.m. first pitch against the Eastern University Eagles.