PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – After a thrilling opening round win the featured timely hits, dominant pitching and some trickery, the Manhattanville University baseball team has advanced past the first round of the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament for the first time in 17 years. Now, the Valiants face a new test as sixth-seeded Manhattanville will hope to become very familiar with Gregg Alfano Field as they look to advance through the double elimination bracket held at Saint Joseph's Long island.
The back-to-back conference champion Saint Joseph's Long Island earned the top seed and hosting privileges as they look to earn a three-peat. Joining the Valiants in their quest to knock off the top dogs will be fourth-seeded Farmingdale as well as No. 2 USMMA, who will serve as Manhattanville's opening opposition.
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Baseball Preview: No. 6 Manhattanville University vs No. 2 United States Merchant Marine Academy | No. 1 Saint Joseph's University Long Island vs No. 4 Farmingdale State College | Skyline Conference Championship Double Elimination Finals | Video | Live Stats | Tickets | Tournament Central
How We Got Here
A hot stretch at the end of the regular season got the Valiants into the playoffs, but Manhattanville proved that it wasn't just a fluke that allowed their season to continue as the sixth-seeded Valiants took down No. 3 Maritime in Wednesday's first round matchup.
The Valiants won seven of their final 10 conference games over the closing weeks of the calendar to make a climb up the Skyline Conference standings. While the final weekend of the regular season still held question marks as to how things would ultimately shake out, the Valiants made it easy by taking matter into their own hands, sweeping Saint Joseph's Brooklyn in the final regular season doubleheader to earn the postseason berth.
Awaiting Manhattanville in the opening round was the top offense in the Skyline in the form of Maritime, with the Privateers outscoring everyone in the conference by a comfortable margin. However, the Valiants were far from intimidated by the team that took both regular-season matchups, holding the Privateers to just four total base hits in a 3-2 win.
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Chris Goohs (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown H.S. East) home run in the seventh broke a 2-2 tie while relievers
Gregory Esposito (Katonah, N.Y./John Jay) and
Ryan McCann (Medford, N.Y./Longwood) combined for five stellar innings out of the pen to secure the win. Esposito picked up his fourth win of the year after allowing just one hit and a hit by pitch, while McCann continued his dominant sophomore campaign with three perfect innings to record the lengthy save.
The Valiant offense has been a complimentary one all season long, with numerous players stepping up to play the role of hero in wins.
Michael Musantry (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) enters Friday with a team-high .371 batting average, while
Jake Parisi (Centereach, N.Y./Centereach) has collected a squad-most 45 hits with a .360 clip. Goohs' 27 RBI lead the team, while
Gregory Tashik (Midland Park, N.J./Midland Park Jr./Sr.), Parisi and Musantry have all driven in 20 or more runs this season.
McCann has grown into one of the conference's best arms this season and taken the mantle of staff ace, entering the weekend with a 1.96 ERA in 59.2 innings. He has also been the Valiants' workhorse, as the sophomore is the only pitcher to qualify for statistical leaderboards with a minimum of one inning pitched per game.
Saint Joseph's began its quest for a third-straight conference title by securing the No. 1 seed by going 18-2 in Skyline play. The Golden Eagles were joined by No. 2 USMMA with first-round byes as the Mariners secured the second-seed with a 15-5 Skyline mark.
Rounding out the final four is fourth-seeded Farmingdale, coming off a convincing 12-0 win over Purchase in the first round. The Rams draw top-seeded Saint Joseph's Long Island in Friday's opening action.
Regular Season Meetings:
- Manhattanville vs USMMA
- Teams split doubleheader @ Manhattanville on Apr. 27
- Game One: Manhattanville 6, USMMA 5
- Game Two: Manhattanville 11, USMMA 25
- Manhattanville vs Saint Joseph's Long Island
- SJLI swept doubleheader @ SJLI on Apr. 6
- Game One: Manhattanville 1, SJLI 4
- Game Two: Manhattanville 3, SJLI 16
- Manhattanville vs Farmingdale
- Farmingdale swept doubleheader @ Farmingdale on Mar. 29
- Game One: Manhattanville 0, FSC 1
- Game Two: Manhattanville 0, FSC 5
- Saint Joseph's Long Island vs Farmingdale
- Teams split doubleheader @ Farmingdale on May 3
- Game One: FSC 9, SJLI 7
- Game Two: FSC 2, SJLI 5
- Saint Joseph's Long Island vs USMMA
- Saint Joseph's swept doubleheader @ SJLI on Apr. 28
- Game One: SJLI 7, USMMA 1
- Game Two: SJLI 7, USMMA 2
- USMMA vs Farmingdale
- USMMA swept doubleheader @ USMMA on Apr. 7
- Game One: USMMA 1, FSC 0
- Game Two: USMMA 8, FSC 6
Team Leaders
Manhattanville
- Batting Average: Musantry (.371), Parisi (.360), Clara (.338)
- Runs Batted In: Goohs (27), Tashik (24), Parisi (23)
- Earned Run Average: Lacoparra (1.29), McCann (1.96), Esposito (3.03)
- Strikeouts: Esposito (41), McCann (29), Osso (18), Costa (18)
USMMA
- Batting Average: Millen (.348), Chiappetti (.342), Cahalan (.333)
- Runs Batted In: Reistetter (35), Leatherwood (33), Clapsaddle (32)
- Earned Run Average: Reistetter (1.77), Payton (2.60), Brown (2.77)
- Strikeouts: Reistetter (97), Cherwonuk (42), Felton (39)
Saint Joseph's Long Island
- Batting Average: Joya (.444), DiFilippo (.373), Ramlogan (.359)
- Runs Batted In: Ramlogan (36), Joya (33), Lynch (31)
- Earned Run Average: Manger (2.43), Kelly (2.98), Morris (4.40)
- Strikeouts: Kelly (35), Manger (32), Morris (25)
Farmingdale
- Batting Average: Lambert (.395), Wasserman (.383), Pollock (.378)
- Runs Batted In: Lambert (39), Heyder (37), DiRocco (31)
- Earned Run Average: Dougherty (1.69), Diamond (2.35), Dorosh (3.86)
- Strikeouts: Dougherty (57), Watts (32), Dorosh (30)
