CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Manhattanville baseball team staged a three run comeback in the eighth and ninth innings but it fell one run shy as the team dropped their series opener to the DeSales Bulldogs by the score of 5-4 on Friday evening. Senior Chris Nardozzi (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) led the charge with a two run homerun in the top of the eighth inning.
 
Junior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) led the team with three hits on the afternoon while also stealing a base and scoring a pair of Valiant runs. Classmate Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and freshman Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) also drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.
 
The game started off well offensively for the Valiants as both LoVetere and senior Dan Fiorito (Yonkers, N.Y./Fordham Prep) reached base; however a botched double steal erased LoVetere while Fiorito advanced to second. Fiorito was moved up to third base on a fly out but Bulldog starter Colby Pacillo got out of the frame unscathed. In the bottom of the first DeSales loaded the bases with three walks, but Valiant sophomore starter Alex Basso (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) settled down and allowed only one run to send it to the second inning.
 
The Valiant tied the game as Bucci started off with a walk and then stole second base; he advanced to third on single by sophomore Elias Tsouristakis (New Rochelle, N.Y./Fordham Prep) and was brought in on the sacrifice fly by Guerra to tie the game at one.
 
In the bottom of the second the Bulldogs regained the lead with a three run inning that was highlighted by a two run single up the middle by Brian Mauro to give the Bulldogs some breathing room and make the score 4-1 heading to the third. Both Basso and Pacillo settled down over the next two innings as both hung up a pair of zeroes in the third and fourth innings.
 
The Bulldogs scratched out their fifth run of the game as Derek Chrismer doubled down the leftfield line to chase home Ethan Moser. Earlier this week Moser was named NCWBA National Player of the Week, making him the second Freedom Conference member to receive the honors along with Fiorito of Manhattanville.
 
Basso made it into the sixth inning and allowed the first batter to reach before retiring the next on a fly out. The Valiants then made a pitching change, bringing in senior Pat Yannucci (New Hyde Park, N.Y./Sewanhaka) to pitch the remainder of the game. Yannucci did his job and stranded the base runner while retiring the next two batters.
 
In the top of the eighth inning the Bulldogs made a pitching change, still up by their 5-1 margin, bringing on Tyler Harris. LoVetere got the inning started with a single followed by Fiorito flying out, the next batter was Nardozzi who pulled the ball down the right field line and over the fence to pull the Valiants back within two, for Nardozzi it was his second home run of the season and also pushed him over the 100 RBI plateau for his career.
 
Yannucci worked in-and-out of trouble in the bottom of the eighth holding the Bulldogs to their two run lead. In the top of the ninth Bucci started off with an infield single that was followed by Tsouristakis getting hit by a pitch to put the go-ahead run on base. Two outs later the Bulldogs pulled Harris for Trevor Conners who came on with runners on first and third with two down.
 
LoVetere was up next and reached on an infield single that allowed Bucci to reach home to bring the Valiants within one while sophomore Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond's) moved up to second base. Fiorito was hit by a pitch to bring up Nardozzi with the bases loaded and two down, Nardozzi hit the ball hard but right at the opposing shortstop as Conners escaped the inning and sealed the win for the Bulldogs.
 
Earning the win was Pacillo (5-1) who allowed one run on five hits over seven innings of work. Harris worked 1 2/3 innings while allowing three runs on three hits before Conners sealed the deal to pick up the save (5). For Manhattanville, Basso (3-4) suffers the loss, while allowing all five Bulldog runs in 5 1/3 innings. Yannucci finished the game pitching 2 2/3 scoreless innings while only allowing three hits.
 
With the win DeSales keeps themselves tied with Misericordia for the top spot in the Freedom Conference standings, which defeated Eastern on Friday afternoon as well. The loss by Eastern keeps them on pace with Manhattanville, with the Valiants holding the tiebreaker for the fourth and final playoff spot. Delaware Valley defeated Wilkes and could sneak into the fourth playoff spot with a win and a pair of loses from both Manhattanville and Eastern tomorrow afternoon as the Freedom schedule concludes.
 
Manhattanville (14-18, 8-11 Freedom) and DeSales (26-11, 16-3 Freedom) will square off in tomorrow's doubleheader at Manhattanville Field with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. Live stats of the game will be available on GoValiants.com.