PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College baseball team opened up conference play on Sunday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader with rival Farmingdale State. The Valiants took the seven-inning opener by a final of 8-3 before falling in extras in Game Two, 9-7. The split moves the Valiants' record on the year to 6-9 overall.
Game One Recap: Manhattanville 8, Farmingdale 3
The Valiants broke a four-game losing streak by taking the Sunday opener, putting up runs in the first and getting a strong pair of pitching performances to seal the deal.
After
Alby Ciuffetelli (Mahopac, N.Y./Yorktown) pitched a scoreless first, the Valiant bats went to work in the bottom half. After
Brian Bornkamp (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) reached on a leadoff single,
Tyler Mandel (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) smacked a ball over the right field wall for a two out two-run blast. The deep fly was the grad student's first of the season and the fourth of his career. The Valiants would add another on a pair of Farmingdale errors that allowed
Michael Musantry (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) to reach on a drop fly and score on a fielding error.
The Rams responded in the second with a homer of their own as Bobby Pollock took Ciufetelli deep with a two-run blast. That would be the only damage allowed by the Valiant starter, as Ciufetelli worked his way around eight base hits to allow just the pair of runs in his 4.1 innings of work. The grad pitcher would strike out one as he improved to 2-0 on the year.
Manhattanville got an insurance run in the fourth off a
Michael Matica (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) RBI double that scored
Frank Delgado (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) before taking firm control of the game with a four-run sixth inning. Musantry drew a lead off walk and put himself in scoring position with a stolen base. He would hustle around the basepaths on
Deven Silva's (Yonkers, N.Y./Mount Saint Michael Academy) single to center. Matica and
Gabe Astrologo (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic Prep) delivered back-to-back singles to load the bases. Bornkamp and Mandel drew bases loaded walks while
Jake Parisi (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach) was hit by a pitch with the bags juiced to bring in the three last runs of the inning, putting Manhattanville up 8-2.
Travis Brescia (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) took over for Ciuffetelli in the fifth, pitching the final 2.2 innings of the game to lock down the win. Brescia stranded the pair of runners he inherited in the fifth before pitching a scoreless sixth. Farmingdale would tag him for a run on four hits in the seventh, but that would be all the Rams could muster as the Vals took Game One.
Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 7, Farmingdale 9 (10 Innings)
In a game with four separate tied scores, the Rams would outlast the Valiants in 10 innings to take the split in Purchase.
Farmingdale took a 7-6 lead in the ninth off a Pollock double and throwing error which allowed Jordan Lambert to score the go-ahead run. The Valiants would be down to their final out in the bottom half before
Joshua Gillison (Buchanan, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) delivered his fourth hit of the game, an RBI single to center that plated Musantry and sent the game to the tenth.
The Rams retook the lead in the first extra inning on a Chris McGuggart RBI double and Nolan White's run-scoring single. While the Valiants would get the tying run to the plate in the bottom half, the late-inning magic was not to be for a second-straight frame as Kevin Primm slammed the door shut to earn the save.
Leading to the thrilling end of the game, Manhattanville had another quick start with another three spot in the first. An error allowed Bornkamp to score the first run of the inning before Delgado notched an RBI on a groudout to plate Mandel and Gillison doubled down the left field line, scoring Musantry and putting the Valiants up 3-0.
The score held until the fourth when Farmingdale broke up the shutout with a three-run blast by Pollock to tie the game up. As was the case in the opener, the deep fly would be the only damage surrendered by the Valiant starter.
Ray White (Mohegan Lake, N.Y./Lakeland) tossed six innings as he allowed seven hits and a walk, charged with the three runs on Pollock's blast. He would strike out a pair in a no-decision.
White would leave as the pitcher of record as Manhattanville scored a pair in the fifth off a Musantry RBI single and a Delagdo sac fly to put the Valiants back in front, 5-3.
White gave way to
Tommy Iazzetta (Thornwood, N.Y./Westlake) to begin the seventh, by the Rams were quick to strike on the new arm. A Daniel Deutsch double brought home a run to cut the Valiant lead down to a run. An error prolonged the inning, allowing the Rams to cash in with a pair of unearned runs at take their first lead of either game, up 6-5.
Setting the stage for an exciting final three innings, Bornkamp delivered a clutch hit in the eighth, driving a two out single back up the middle to score Silva with the tying run.
Jay Lockwood (Stamford, Conn./Stamford) pitched the last two outs of the eighth in relief of Iazzetta, allowing a harmless single. It was
Sean Demo (Cape May, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) toeing the rubber for the rest of the way, who surrendered the unearned run in the ninth before being tagged for the runs in the tenth that would win the game for Farmingdale. Demo falls to 0-1 on the year with the loss as he now holds a 2.31 ERA in five relief appearances.
Up Next
It's short rest for the Valiants as Manhattanville returns to action tomorrow to host Saint Joseph's-Brooklyn for a Skyline doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
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