MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – A five-run eighth inning and a pair of strong pitching performances led the Manhattanville College baseball team to its first win of 2024, defeating Westminster 6-2 in the team's second game of The Ripken Experience down in South Carolina. The Valiants improve to 1-1 to begin the season.

A day removed from needing five arms to get through their season-opener against Johnson & Wales, the Valiants got a strong outing out of started Ryan McCann (Medford, N.Y./Longwood) who worked his way into the sixth inning. The sophomore tossed a career-high 5.1 innings, holding the Titans scoreless through the first four innings. After being held to just one hit over the opening four frames, Westminster finally got through to the Valiant starter in the fifth as a lead-off single and double had a pair of runners in scoring position with nobody out. McCann got a pair of infield popups to almost escape unscathed, but Donald Shimko laced a liner down the left field line to score a pair before being thrown out at second with the Titans plating the first two runs of the day.

McCann returned to the mound to face a pair of batters in the sixth, giving way to Gregory Esposito (Katonah, N.Y./John Jay) with one out and a runner on second. The graduate pitcher navigated the inherited runner and a hit-by-pitch with a pair of strikeouts to keep the deficit at two runs.

Esposito went nine up, nine down to close out the game as the Titans could not muster a hit off the reliever. In all, Esposito finished with six punchouts in his 12 batters faced across his 3.2 innings of work to keep the Valiants in the game.

Despite collecting six hits across the first seven innings, Manhattanville couldn't push a run across as the Westminster pitching staff continued to work around runners and fielding errors. The floodgates finally opened in the eighth as the Valiants plated five runs on five hits and a pair of Titan errors. Jake Parisi (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach) and Joe McDonald led off the inning with back-to-back singles before Joshua Gillison (Buchanan, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) dumped a hit into right field to plate Parisi from second with the team's first run. A fielding error two batters later loaded up the bases for Michael Musantry (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac), who cashed in with a two-run single to right, bringing McDonald and Gillison home with the tying and go-ahead runs. Chris Goohs (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown H.S. East) followed up with a two-run double to put Manhattanville up 5-2.

The Valiants added an insurance run the following inning as CJ Archul (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) and Parisi reached with a pair of singles to open up the frame. That brought McDonald to the dish, delivering an RBI single to right to extend the lead to 6-2.

Esposito made quick work in the ninth, getting a flyout, strikeout and groundout to earn his first Manhattanville win.

Gillison and McDonald both finished 3-for-5 at the dish for the Valiants. Parisi, Archul and Goohs joined the duo with multi-hit games.

Archul and Anthony Mezzaucella (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) each swiped a base in the win.

Up Next
The Valiants play their first doubleheader tomorrow with a pair of games against Colby-Sawyer. Game one is slated for a 9 a.m. start from Ebbets Field.

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