PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College baseball team got the weekend started on the right foot, sweeping Saturday's doubleheader against Saint Joseph's College (Brooklyn). The pair of wins improves the Valiants' record to 12-10 overall and 8-4 in the Skyline Conference.
Game One Recap: Manhattanville 8, Saint Joseph's 2
The Valiants used a seven-run first inning to set the tone early in the opener, cruising to a six-run win.
Manhattanville used seven hits and a pair of Bear errors to take the commanding lead in the first.
Joseph Silvestri (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) fired the opening salvo, finding an opening through the right side to score
Joe McDonald (Coram, N.Y./Longwood) after his leadoff single.
Frank Delgado (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) then dropped down a picture-perfect bunt that he was able to beat out, allowing
Anthony Pressimone (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) to score with the second run.
Tyler Mandel (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) followed that up with a two run single up the middle to break the game wide open.
The rally continued with two outs. The lineup flipped for McDonald to take his second at-bat of the inning, putting the ball in play with the bases loaded. Everyone was safe as a result of a throwing error, allowing Mandel to score. Pressimone then capitalized on the second opportunity, lacing a single up the middle to score
Jake Parisi (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach) and
Tyler Viscusi (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) with the 7-0 lead.
Jackson Branigan (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) thrived with the run support, earning the first win of his collegiate career. Branigan threw six innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out two.
The Valiants added one more run in the fifth on a
Brian Bornkamp (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) single that scored Mandel. The Bears added a run in each of the fifth and the sixth, but were unable to make more of a dent in the Manhattanville lead.
Jay Lockwood (Stamford, Conn./Stamford) closed out the contest with a hitless seventh inning as the Valiants took the opener.
Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 9, Saint Joseph's 3
Manhattanville struck first again in Game Two, plating the game's first run in the second inning. With runners on first and second and two away,
Gregory Lucien Jr. (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) earned his first collegiate RBI, singling through the right side to score
Joe LaPorta (Centerech, N.Y./Centereach). The Bears responded with a run in the bottom half, but a three-run third for Manhattanville put the visitors on top the rest of the way.
With a pair in scoring position, Pressimone drilled a double to right field. The two-bagger scored
Anthony Quatrochi (Fishkill, N.Y./Our Lady of Lourdes) and McDonald to reestablish the Valiants' lead. Viscusi hit a sacrifice fly three batters later to score Pressimone with the insurance run, 4-1.
Saint Joseph's responded once again with a run in their turn to bat, but another two Valiant runs in the fourth effectively put the game out of reach. Quatrochi hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Parisi before Silvestri knocked a double to right center, scoring McDonald.
The Bears would add one more run in the sixth, but the Valiants hung three more on the board in the top half of the seventh via a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly and an error to gain some more separation. The Bears would be held to just two hits over the final three innings as Manhattanville completed the sweep.
Matthew Messina (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) got the start for the Valiants, tossing four innings and allowing a pair of runs on three hits while striking out two.
Sean Demo (Bloomfield, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) went the rest of the way, picking up the win on five innings of work while allowing just one run on five hits with four strikeouts.
Up Next
The Valiants return home tomorrow for another conference doubleheader, hosting Mount Saint Mary starting at noon.
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