NEW YORK, NY - A walk-off grand slam by Mount Saint Vincent sophomore John McManus (Bayside, N.Y.) in the bottom of the eleventh inning gave the Dolphins a 12-8 victory over Mount Saint Mary College in the opening round of the Skyline Conference tournament. Mount Saint Vincent (19-14) advances to play Farmingdale State College in the next round. The Blue Knights (27-11) were eliminated.

With the bases loaded in the bottom half of the eleventh inning, McManus crushed a 3-2 pitch high into the darkening skies above Columbia University's Baker Field. The ball went well over the wall in left-center field for the sophomore's first career home run. McManus was greeted by a raucous celebration at home plate.

The game only reached extra innings after a two-run rally by Mount Saint Vincent in the bottom of the ninth. The Blue Knights carried an 8-6 lead into the ninth and brought in junior closer Chris Gage (Saugerties, N.Y.) to put away the Dolphins. Gage hit the first two batters of the inning and then sophomore Michael Pope (Massapequa, N.Y.) singled to center field to load the bases. An ensuing double play made it 8-7 but also put the Dolphins one out away from elimination.

With a runner at third, junior Joe Blackford (Stewartsville, N.J.) singled to left to tie the game at eight. Blackford stole second and then had a chance to score the winning run when McManus singled to right. Mount Saint Mary freshman Dan McCrea (Hicksville, N.Y.) charged the ball and made a perfect throw to the plate to cut off the winning run.

Trailing 6-4 into the seventh inning, the Blue Knights rallied for three runs to take the lead. With the bases loaded and two outs, junior Mike Umphlett (North Stonington, Conn.) tripled to the gap in left-center to clear the bases.

The Mount added an insurance run in the eighth as senior Matthew Germann (Islip, N.Y.) tripled down the left field line to lead off the inning. He scored on a singled by freshman Brian McNoble (Lynbrook, N.Y.) to make it 8-6.

Blackford pitched the final three innings for the Dolphins to collect the victory. He held the Blue Knights without a hit.

Senior Scott Francis (Pawcatuck, Conn.) took the loss for the Blue Knights. He hit the first batter in the bottom of the eleventh before allowing the next two batters to reach with bunt singles.

For the Blue Knights, McNoble finished 3-for-6 with a run scored and a pair of runs batted in. Umphlett was 2-for-4 with a run and four RBIs. Senior Jim Marsh (Maybrook, N.Y.) was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Blackford led the Dolphins with a 4-for-6 performance. McManus finished 3-for-5 with two runs and five RBIs. Pope also had three hits with one run scored and an RBI.

Mount Saint Vincent will take on Farmingdale in the second round of the Skyline tournament on Friday. The game is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start. The Blue Knights were eliminated from the playoffs.