Late Rally Lifts Baseball to Sweep of Manhattanville

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) baseball team claimed two Skyline Conference contests against Manhattanville College at Gregg Alfano Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles held off the Valiants for a 6-4 win in game one before an eighth-inning rally in game two resulted in an 8-4 win to improve to 5-4 on the season with a 4-0 Skyline record. Manhattanville slides to 7-8 overall, 4-2 Skyline.

SJCLI 6, M'Ville 4

The Valiants plated a pair of runs in the opening frame of game one, but the lead was quickly erased by a two-run blast to centerfield off the bat of Brian Forbes (2-for-3, 2R, 2RBI) in the bottom half of the inning.

An RBI single by John Thatcher (1-for-3, RBI) in the third and a solo shot to left by Ryan Decoursey (3-for-3, 2R, RBI) in the fourth put the Golden Eagles ahead, 4-2.

Back-to-back singles from Forbes and Decoursey put runners at the corners to start the bottom half of the fifth and a sac fly from John Lynch (RBI) followed by a single to right form Nick Vicino (1-for-3, RBI) brought in both runs to widen the gap to 6-2.

Following a quiet sixth, the Valiants rallied for two runs with two outs in the top of the seventh before SJC reliever Michael Manzolillo got Tyler Mandel to fly out in foul territory for the final out.

Starter Anthony Cinquemani (2-0) picked up his second win of the season allowing three runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. Manzolillo claimed his second save after allowing one run on two hits with two Ks in an inning of relief.

M'Ville's Sean Demo was tagged with the loss surrendering six runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work.

SJCLI 8, M'Ville 4

Trailing 3-1, Mahanttanville pushed two runs across in the top of the fifth to even the score at three before an RBI single from Jake Parisi put the visitors ahead 4-3 after six innings of play.

The Golden Eagles were retired in order in the seventh, but an infield single from Paul Gugliuzzo (2-for-4, 2R, RBI) sparked a five-run bottom of the eighth. Forbes (2-for-5, R) followed with a base hit to right-center to put runners on the corners setting up a sac fly opportunity for Decoursey (1-for-3, 2RBI) tying the game at 4. Charles Rainone (1-for-4) singled to center and was lifted for pinch-runner Mike DiFillipo (R) before Vicino (1-for-3, 2R, RBI) doubled in Forbes for the go-ahead run, 5-4. Following a Valiant pitching change and an intentional walk to Joe Sanguedolce (2-for-3, R, RBI) to load the bases, Thatcher (1-for-3, 2RBI) drove in two runs with a hit to center and Hermes Abreu (1-for-4, RBI) knocked in the game's final run with a single to right. 

SJC's Charles Aurandt (1-0) sat Manhattanville down in order in the ninth to secure his first win of the season. The freshman tossed three scoreless innings of relief allowing just one base runner.

The Golden Eagles return to Gregg Alfano Field on Tuesday, March 29 when they host William Paterson in a non-conference contest at 4:00 pm.