MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – In the 2013 season opener the Manhattanville baseball team fell to the No. 3/4 Cortland Red Dragons by the score of 13-3. Seniors Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) and John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) collected RBIs in a three-run first inning, which proved to be the only offense the Valiants put together on the day.
 
The game started out with senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) starting off the year with a single to centerfield, and advancing to second on a passed ball. Sophomore Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) pushed LoVetere to third with an infield single, while classmate Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) walked to load the bases.
 
Ferguson drove in the first run of the season on a groundout to the catcher as LoVetere touched the plate to put Manhattanville up 1-0. Up next was Bucci, who singled up the middle to drive in two more runs to give the Valiants a 3-0 lead in the top of the first.
 
In the bottom of the first, freshman Jon Galgano (New Rochelle, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) got the start and was touched up for a four-spot by the high-octane Cortland offense, sending the game to the second inning with the Red Dragons up by one.
 
Galgano allowed runs in each of the next three innings, and with the score at 6-3 was pulled in favor of junior V.J. Collins (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Arlington). The transfer student allowed an inherited runner to score, which was charged to Galgano, who's day finished with seven earned runs on five hits in 2 1/3 inning.
 
The Valiants pulled out all stops in the pitching staff in attempts to slow down the Red Dragon offense, as the next pitcher out of the bullpen was graduate student Donny Pitasi (Mount Kisco, N.Y./Fox Lane), who had not pitched since May 3, 2011 after a shoulder injury kept him out all of last season. Pitasi retired the lone two batters he faced, but did allow a run to score on a wild pitch to increase the lead to 9-3 in favor of Cortland.
 
Sophomore Zack Zareva (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional) pitched a scoreless fifth inning, while freshman Julian Ponce (Port Chester, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) allowed a run in the seventh to make the score 10-3 as the Valiant offense continued to struggle against a strong Cortland pitching staff. Newcomer Jason Cosentino (Valhalla, N.Y./Westlake) allowed one hit in his inning of work in the seventh to send the game to the eighth inning.
 
Up next was junior outfielder-turned-pitcher Ryan Blinderman (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde), who retired his first batter before being touched up for three unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth to increase the Red Dragon lead to 13-3. The bottom of the ninth saw Ferguson, Bucci and freshman Jordanis Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) to wrap-up the game and give Manhattanville its first loss of the young season.
 
Picking up the win was John Molloy (1-0) after allowing three runs in five innings of work while striking out five batters. Cortland also got two innings each out of Matt Holling and Matt Adipietro to finish off the game. Taking the loss was Galgano (0-1) as the Valiants used seven pitchers to finish off the game.
 
Manhattanville (0-1) will head back to the field tomorrow morning with a doubleheader against Mount St. Vincent tomorrow afternoon with first pitch slated for 10 a.m. Cortland (2-1) will also play a pair of games tomorrow against Staten Island, also set to start at 10 a.m.