PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Senior Dan Fiorito (Yonkers, N.Y./Fordham Prep) went 3-for-4 with five RBI and freshman Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) went 3-for-4 with four RBI as all nine in the Manhattanville starting lineup collected at least one hit in the Valiants' 24-12 victory over Division II Pace on Wednesday afternoon in Pleasantville, N.Y.

The Valiant offense starting off with a huge offensive outburst in the first inning that saw 13 batters come to the plate for Manhattanville. Guerra got the first big blow of the inning by hitting a bases clearing double to put Manhattanville up 5-0 after the first two runs scored via fielding errors against the Pace infielders. Three batters later the junior DH Matt Petrunti (East Granby, Conn./Loomis-Chaffee) hit a double down the leftfield line to score two more, the next batter was Fiorito who launched a three run homerun to left field to put the Valiants up 10-0 after the first half inning.

In the bottom of the first, Manhattanville freshman starter Michael Lyon (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) worked around a pair of hits to get out of trouble while allowing one run and advancing the game to the second inning. In the second, the Setters replaced starter Brian Sundberg who allowed all 10 of Manhattanville's first inning runs, however the Valiant offense picked right back off where they left off against Patrick Maher of Pace.

Maher put three of the first four batters he faced on base courtesy of a pair of walks and a hit batsman. Freshman Nick Euvino (Elmsford, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) was up next and reached on an error by the third baseman that allowed Guerra to score to make it 11-1. Petrunti got the next run across with an RBI groundout while causing the second out. The next six batters all reached via base hits, including a pair of doubles from Fiorito who picked up another two RBI and classmate Chris Nardozzi (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham). The last of the six straight hits was the biggest as junior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury)'s single that scored two runs, Guerra got one more base knock to score LoVetere and expand the lead to 19-1.

In the top of the fourth inning, junior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) hit a leadoff homerun to score Manhattanville's 20th run. Meanwhile on the mound, Lyon scattered one hit over the next three innings as he cruised his way into the fifth with the 20-1 lead. The Setters finally got to Lyon by scratching across a pair of runs in the fifth as Lyon's day came to an end after completing five innings while allowing three runs on six hits.

Junior Bashir Masani (Westbury, N.Y./W.T. Clarke) was the first out of the bullpen for the Valiants who got through the sixth inning while allowing one run to send it to the top of the seventh, where the Manhattanville bats woke up once again. Seven of the first eight batters reached again for Manhattanville with junior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) driving in two of the Valiant runs with a one out single.

The Setters trying to keep pace brought around three runners of their own against Masani to bring the game within 24-7. The Valiants went down quietly in the eighth inning, but the Setters refused to do the same as they got their first four batters on against Masani who was pulled for junior Don Fisher (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) who finished off the game allowing one run of his own while Masani was charged with the first four.

Manhattanville (4-1) will return to the field next Thursday when they play their home opener against Purchase College on March 15 at 3:30 p.m. with live stats of the game available on GoValiants.com. Pace (4-2) will return to their Division II opponents when they travel to Florida for their spring break trip that sees them play Bentley, Rollins, C.W. Post and Stonehill.