PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College baseball team (6-7) turned in a stellar offensive effort to take down Manhattanville College (8-8), 9-7, Thursday afternoon at Manhattanville Field.
A big sixth inning was the difference in Thursday's non-conference matchup. With two outs already recorded in the inning, junior right fielder
Kristopher Fragomeni (Beacon, N.Y.) picked up an infield single to keep the inning alive. Freshman first baseman
Blake Keenan (Fishkill, N.Y.) then drew a walk, as did senior second baseman
David Hobbs (East Rockaway, N.Y.) to load the bases. Senior designated hitter
Andrew Conn (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) dropped a single into right field, plating two runs to put the Knights up, 7-6. Freshman center fielder
Johnny Vaccaro (Roslyn Heights, N.Y.) then singled to left to bring in Hobbs. Senior third baseman
Rocco Pepe (Commack, N.Y.) capped off the scoring with a bases-loaded walk to improve the Knight lead to 9-6.
Manhattanville threatened the Knight lead in the bottom of the ninth. Shortstop Jordanis Nunez doubled down the left field line with one away, then moved to third on a passed ball. He scored on an infield single by second baseman Joe Anselmi with two outs to get the Valiants within two. Anselmi then moved into scoring position with a stolen base, and first baseman Kevin Brady reached base after being hit by a pitch. Anselmi then moved to third on a wild pitch, but center fielder Nick Euvino flew out to end the game.
The Knights and Valiants traded leads back and forth in the early innings of Thursday's contest. The Knights got on the board in the top of the first on a double to right center by Keenan, but Anselmi smacked a two-RBI double in the home half of the inning to put Manhattanville up, 2-1.
The Knights stole the lead right back in the second on a two-RBI single by Fragomeni. The Valiants did not let that last long, as right fielder John Delahanty knocked in a run in the bottom of the second with a double to left-center to tie the game at 3-3.
Fragomeni knocked in his third run of the game in the top of the fourth on a groundout to short. Junior left fielder baseman
Matt Cahill (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) scored on a wild pitch later in the inning to put the Knights up, 5-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, Nunez hit an RBI double down the left field line to bring in a run and cut the deficit to one. Third baseman Robbie Lynch then singled to left to bring in Nunez to tie the game. Brady later hit a double down the right field line, bringing in Lynch to give the Valiants a 6-5 lead after five innings.
Freshman reliever
James McCleary (Floral Park, N.Y.) earned his first collegiate victory after allowing a run on two hits in one inning of relief. Junior
Sean Betterly earned his first save of the season in a four-inning outing in which he allowed one unearned run and struck out three. Manhattanville's Antonio Ogando was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in 1.2 innings of work.
Cahill went 3-for-5 with two runs, a double and a stolen base to improve his hitting streak to eight games. Fragomeni went 3-for-5 hitting right behind Cahill in the lineup, knocking in three runs and scoring another. Conn went 1-for-5, but knocked in two runs and scored one himself. Freshman catcher
Ryan Hayes (Robbinsville, N.J.) had a nice outing, going 2-for-5 with two runs.
Nunez with 3-for-5 with a RBI and three runs scored to pace the Valiants. Anselmi hit 2-for-3 with three RBI, while Brady went 2-for-3 and knocked in a run.
The Knights are next scheduled to play Manhattanville again on Tuesday, April 7, but that game might be postponed due to conference scheduling conflicts for Manhattanville. The Knights would then play next on Wednesday, April 8, at SUNY Oneonta with first-pitch time of 4 p.m.
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