PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Valiants fought back, getting the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth after scoring twice in the inning, but the Manhattanville College varsity baseball team's comeback effort fell just short on Tuesday afternoon. Manhattanville dropped a 9-8 contest to the visiting William Paterson, falling to 5-6 on the season.

Trailing 9-6 entering the final frame, Joshua Gillison (Buchanan, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) stepped up with runners on second and third and two away. The rookie came up big, finding the outfield grass with a single to cut the lead down to one. However, the rally would come to an end there as Dan Carter struck out Michael Matica (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) to end the game, stranding the tying run at first.

The Valiants attempted to play catch up all day long after the Pioneer scored first in the second inning. William Paterson hung three runs on the board in the fourth to put the Valiants in a 4-0 hole. Manhattanville responded in their half, as Joe McDonald (Coram, N.Y./Longwood) and Joseph Silvestri (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) scored a pair of unearned runs to make the most of two William Paterson errors and begin to fight back into the game.

Outside of the rough fourth inning, Ian Murray (Commack, N.Y./Commack) pitched well in his season debut. The sophomore went 5.2 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits while striking out three. The score would hold at 4-2 until the bottom of the sixth, when Tyler Viscusi (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to drive in Silvestri with his second run of the game, pulling the Vals within one.

With their lead almost evaporated, the Pioneer bats got back to work in the seventh. After a walk and a single, a Manhattanville error loaded the bases for William Paterson. The Pioneers hit back-to-back RBI singles and a sac fly later in the inning to go back up by four. Not ready to go away just yet, the Valiants responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half, capitalizing on a pair of William Paterson errors and RBIs by Tyler Mandel (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) and Frank Delgado (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) to head into the 8^th down 7-6
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The Pioneers scored a run in the top of the eighth and the ninth to set up the Valiants' comeback effort in the bottom half that ultimately fell just short. Deven Silva (Yonkers, N.Y./Mount Saint Michael Academy) had his best game of the season so far, going 3-for-5 at the plate with a run scored and a stolen base. The junior now has five hits in his last two games.

Up Next
Junior varsity is next on the schedule, when the Valiants take on Rockland Community College on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The varsity team is back in action on Saturday, hosting a Skyline doubleheader against Old Westbury starting at 12 p.m.

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