NEWBURGH, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University baseball team clinched the final available postseason spot in the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament by defeating Mount Saint Mary on Sunday by a final of 4-2. With the win, the Valiants improved to 20-19 overall and, more importantly, 10-9 in Skyline action to finish ahead of both Purchase and Old Westbury who Manhattanville had entered the day tied in the win column with for sixth-place. While Game Two of the doubleheader between Manhattanville and Mount Saint Mary was rained out, the Valiants are locked into the No. 6 seed and will head to third-seeded Farmingdale on Wednesday for the tournament's opening round.
With postseason hopes hanging in the balance pending Sunday's results,
Ray White (Mohegan Lake, N.Y./Lakeland) delivered by far his best outing of the season on the mound. The senior tossed all seven innings, limiting the Knights to two runs (one earned) on two hits, all season-lows. White did only strike out two but was able to work extremely efficiently, needing just 79 pitches to pick up his first win of the year to improve to 1-3. The effort lowered White's ERA down to 4.86.
Manhattanville got a run in the top of the third as Gab Astrologo walked ahead of back-to-back singles from
Anthony Mezzaucella (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) and
Joseph McDonald (Coram, N.Y./Longwood) loaded up the bases with one out.
Joshua Gillison (Buchanan, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) was able to get under one out to center, deep enough to bring home Astrologo  on a sacrifice fly with the opening run.
The Knights plated the equalizer in the bottom half with a sacrifice fly of their own before the Valiants retook the lead in the fourth. After a
Chris Goohs (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown H.S. East) one-out double, back-to-back errors by the Mount Saint Mary infield allowed the junior to score without another hit.
The lead once again was only momentary as the Knights plated the tying run on Aidan Marshall's double. That would prove to be the Knights' final base hit of the day as White only allowed one more baserunner over the rest of his outing, a hit batsman in the fifth.
With the Knights left befuddled by White, the Valiants took their third and final lead of the game in the seventh. A one-out
Brian Brezosky (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland) single put the go-ahead run on base. Bresozky stole second two batters later before Goohs was hit by a pitch.
Mike Ambrosecchia (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) delivered arguably the biggest of his 29 hits of the year with a single to bring home Brezosky with the go-ahead run. The Valiants added one more as the Knights' third error of the afternoon allowed Goohs to come home as an insurance run to take a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the final frame. White did the rest of the work, getting a pair of flyouts before a final strikeout to capture the win and send the Valiants to the postseason for a second-straight year.
Up Next
With the regular-season finale between the Valiants and Knights officially canceled per the conference, Manhattanville will shift gears for the postseason. No. 6 Manhattanville heads to No. 3 Farmingdale on Wednesday for a single-elimination contest, with the winner advancing to compete in the double-elimination finals at USMMA starting on Friday.
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