Purchase, N.Y. - The Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team held off a late Manhattanville comeback to defeat the Valiants 5-4 in a nine inning contest. Junior Nick Rizzo (Smithtown, N.Y.) finished the evening 3-for-3 while also drawing two walks.

The Knights got the scoring starting early when Rizzo led off the contest with a single to left field. Following a John Santana (Warwick, N.Y.) sacrifice bunt, freshman Dominick Marzigliano (Highland Falls, N.Y.) drove him in with a RBI double. 

After three straight walks in the bottom of the third with two outs, Matthew Borriello (Montgomery, N.Y.) got an infield popup to end the Manhattanville threat. The Mount then turned in a strong fourth inning where it plated three runs. Following a Braden Perry (Brockport, N.Y.) walk and a Steven Mirra (Wallingford, Conn.) single through the left side, Jack Goodwin (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) singled to right to drive in a run.

The Knights then pulled off a double steal where Goodwin stole second and Mirra stole home to plate the third run of the evening. Rizzo proceeded to drive in his only run of the night when he singled to right to plate Goodwin for a 4-0 lead.

The Mount pushed the lead to a game-high five when the Knights put on a play with two outs, getting Robert Brust (Shirley, N.Y.) caught in a rundown between first and second while Marzigliano scored from third.

The Valiants began their comeback in the bottom of the fifth on a Peter Iannarilli RBI groundout but reliever Anthony Collura (Franklin Square, N.Y.) got Stephen Merrill to fly out to center to end the threat.

Hathaway Roper laced a single up the middle to drive in the second Manhattanville run of the evening in the sixth. The Valiants cut the lead down to two after a Jack Matero groundout in the eighth.

Manhattanville cut the lead down to one run in the bottom of the ninth after Iannarilli crushed a solo home run to right field. Michael DiGiovanni (Shirley, N.Y.) rebounded after giving up the homer and struck out the next three hitters to give the Knights a 5-4 victory.

Iannarilli and Matero each finished 2-for-4 on the day while Iannarilli had a home run and Matero added a double. Tyler Viscusi earned the tough loss in his two innings of work in which he gave up one earned run on two hits and one walk.

The Mount used five pitchers in the contest as Alexander Maher (Mineola, N.Y.) got the start. He went two innings, allowing no runs and struck out three. Borriello earned the victory with his two scoreless innings of work in relief. DiGiovanni gets credit for his first save of the season with his two innings of work, striking out three.

Marzigliano finished the night 2-for-4, including his RBI double. Mirra also added a 2-for-3 evening, including a walk. The Knights stole six bases on the night with Rizzo and Marzigilano leading the way with two apiece and Mirra and Goodwin chipping in one each.

At 3-2 overall, the Knights travel to Port Charlotte, Fla. to play in the Snowbird Classic. The first game in Florida will be against Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Live stats will be available for all five of the Snowbird Classic contests.