PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville baseball team dropped a 10-0 decision to the Alvernia Crusaders on Monday afternoon at Manhattanville Field in Purchase, N.Y. In the loss Manhattanville was only able to muster five hits off of Alvernia pitching, while the Crusaders scored six runs in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach.

Sophomore David Jones (Lanesboro, Mass./Mt. Greylock) worked around a one out double before retiring the side in the opening frame. In the bottom of the first the Valiants posed their best offensive threat of the afternoon as sophomore Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond's) led off with a walk and went first to third on a hit-and-run single by senior Dan Fiorito (Yonkers, N.Y./Fordham Prep). Senior Chris Nardozzi (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) then walked to load the bases but Alvernia starter Aaron Benusis struck out the next batter before retiring junior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) who lined into a double play as Fiorito was erased off of second.

Benesus settled down from that point forward retiring the next 12 batters, with help from a few Manhattanville base running miscues. He then allowed the first two batters to reach in the bottom of the seventh inning but retired the next three batters to avoid giving up Manhattanville's first run. Benesus finished the game allowing five hits while striking out 11 over his eight innings of work.

Meanwhile Jones allowed single runs in each of the following four innings on three singles and a walk with the bases loaded to make it 4-0 heading to the top of the sixth inning. In the frame, Jones began to show signs of fatigue as six of the first seven batters reached leaving with one out and runners on second and third as freshman Joe Palmeri (Mastic, N.Y./Eastport/South Manor) came on in relief.

Palmeri was unable to keep the inherited runners from scoring as the first batter he faced blooped a single down the right field line before retiring the next two batters as the Crusaders hung a six spot and took a 10-0 lead into the seventh.

Over his final three innings of work, Palmeri struck out five batters including the three batters he retired in the eighth inning while scattering a total of four hits over his 3 2/3 innings of relief work.

Earning the win was Benesus (4-1) while giving way to Matthew Burger who pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth inning. Suffering his first loss of the season was Jones (0-1) who allowed all 10 runs (8 earned) on 13 base hits while striking out three, before Palmeri came on to finish off the game.

Manhattanville (8-9, 4-5 Freedom) will continue their non-conference schedule on Wednesday afternoon when they play host to their former Skyline Conference foe Old Westbury Panthers with the first pitch set for 4 p.m. Live stats of the game will be available on GoValiants.com. Alvernia (16-6-1, 5-1 Commonwealth) will also return to the field on Wednesday afternoon when they host Gwynedd-Mercy, also at 4 p.m.