The Marist baseball team lost to Manhattan in a 13-inning game on May 4 at McCann Baseball Field, falling by a score of 8-2 in a game which took more than four hours to complete. The Red Foxes were swept in a three-game weekend series by the Jaspers and now stand at 18-23 overall and 7-11 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play with six conference games to go.
Marist scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second. After Manhattan starter Dan Forman struck out the first four batters he faces, Marist designated hitter Andrew Stanton (Delmar) reached on an infield single. Junior right fielder Brian McDonough (Hanover, Mass.) followed with a single. After both runners advanced on a balk, Stanton was driven home on an RBI groundout by sophomore left fielder Ryan Gauck (Clifton Park).
The Red Foxes added another run in the third. Freshman center fielder Michael Gallic (Tolland, Conn.) led off the inning with a walk, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior third baseman Kyle Meyer (East Greenbush). With two outs, a single by sophomore shortstop Richard Curylo (Staten Island) plated Gallic, giving Marist a 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile, sophomore right-hander B.J. Martin (Manalapan, N.J.), making his first start in four weeks, was rolling along. Martin shut out the Jaspers through the first seven innings, but hit Manhattan’s Eric Nieto to lead off the eighth. Martin was relieved by freshman right-hander Brendan Chapin (South Weymouth, Mass.), who gave up hits to the first two batters he faced as Manhattan cut the lead to 2-1. However, Chapin struck out Chad Salem with runners on first and second for the first out of the inning.
Chapin was then relieved by classmate Kyle Putnam (New Windsor). After Dom Lombardi reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases, Putnam struck out Ruben Perez and got Austin Sheffield to line out to Meyer to end the inning.
Putnam retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth, but back-to-back doubles by Eric Nieto and Mark Onorati tied the game at two apiece.
Neither team scored until the top of the 13th, when the Jaspers broke the game open by scoring six times. Kevin Nieto was hit by a pitch to force home the go-ahead run, and then a double by Salem cleared the bases and gave the Jaspers a 6-2 lead. Lombardi then hit a long home run to left to put Manhattan up 8-2.
Sophomore right-hander Eric Alessio (Nyack), who held Manhattan scoreless in the 10th, 11th and 12th, was charged with three runs in the 13th to take the loss. He now stands at 1-3 on the season. Brian Pendergast (4-4) earned the win for the Jaspers with five innings of shutout relief.
In his seven inning of work, Martin gave up just four hits and two walks while striking out eight. Forman went the first eight innings for Manhattan, striking out 12.
Manhattan now stands at 24-18-1 overall and 13-5 in the MAAC.
After taking five days off for final exams, the Red Foxes will return to action next weekend with a conference series at Niagara. The teams will play a doubleheader on May 10, starting at 4 p.m., followed by a single game on Sunday at noon.
Softball Foxes clinch MAAC tourney berth
Faced with a must-win second game of a Sunday doubleheader, the Marist softball team came through and defeated the Manhattan Jaspers 2-0 on May 4 to clinch the fourth-seed in the 2008 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.
Junior Caitlin Carpentier (Andover, Mass.) tossed a gem, and senior Pamela de la Llave (West Orange, N.J.) delivered a two-run homer in the third inning to account for only runs of the contest. The Red Foxes fell 3-1 in a 10-inning game in the opener.
The homer was de la Llave’s sixth of the season and third of the weekend, while Carpentier junior had 11 strikeouts and went the distance for the first time.
Marist got on the board in the third inning of the opener. Mary Beth Pomes (Milford, Pa.) reached on an error with one out and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Manhattan starter Melissa Donnelly. Junior shortstop Melissa Giordano (Stamford, Conn.) followed with an RBI single that gave the Red Foxes a 1-0 lead.
Marist starter Megan Rigos held the Jaspers scoreless until the sixth. Donnelly led off the inning with a single, and Gianna Cirrilli was hit by a pitch. Lyndzie Phillips followed with a bloop single to right, but Cirrilli was forced out second on the play to put runners on first and third with one out. Designated player Ashley Rampino delivered a single to tie the game and Philips advanced to third. The next batter skied to right for the second out, and Jessica Green (Manassas, Va.) overthrew Marist catcher Alison Catenacci (Medfield, Mass.) at home. Rigos, who was backing up the play, was able to cleanly catch the throw and tag the Manhattan runner out prior to scoring for the third out.
The game remained tied until the 10th, when Manhattan senior center fielder Kristina Walraven delivered a huge two-run homer to right center. Marist got runners on second and third with one out but could not come through with the clutch hit to tie the score, and the Jaspers held on.
Giordano had a remarkable first game. She went 4-for-5 with a double and had Marist’s only RBI. Lindsey Kinel (East Hartford, Conn.), Kate Malloy (Fair Haven, N.J.), and Green had the three other Marist hits.
The Red Foxes were outhit 9-7 in the opener. Amanda Genovese led the Jaspers with two hits, and Walraven provided the late heroics.
Rigos (16-14) took the hard-luck loss on the mound, going all 10. She struck out 10 Jaspers hitters.
With the Red Foxes losing the opener, the winner of the second game would get the final spot in the MAAC Tournament, Carpentier delivered for Marist.
Carpentier (5-9) retired the first nine she faced, and the score was tied going into the bottom of the third. With one out, Giordano hit a deep fly to the right-field wall that the Manhattan right fielder dropped to set the table for de la Llave’s clutch home run. It was her team-high sixth of the season, and it gave Marist a much-needed 2-0 lead.
Donnelly started the game two after going all 10 innings in the first game. She was relieved by Allison Smith in the fifth but was charged with the loss.
Carpentier finally gave up a hit in the fourth but never got into any serious trouble. She struck out the side in the sixth, induced a third-to-first ground out to start the seventh, and struck out the last two Manhattan hitters of the game.
“I was impressed with her composure and what she showed our entire team today,” Marist head coach Erin Layton said. “Her drop was fantastic all game, and she really set the tone for us in that win.”
Marist held a 5-2 advantage in hits in the night cap, as de la Llave had three and Malloy had two.
Marist finished the regular season at 22-28 overall and 8-8 in the MAAC.
Canisius, Niagara and Fairfield are the top three seeds in the MAAC Tournament. No. 4 Marist played top-seeded Canisius on May 8, after the Beat’s press time.