PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville baseball team dropped both ends of Sunday's doubleheader to the Misericordia Cougars by the scores of 5-0 and 7-2. The games were played on Manhattanville Field as home games for the Cougars, as their home field in Dallas, Pa. was not playable.
 
In the opener, junior Alex Basso (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) was sent to the hill to the bottom of the first inning and retired the Cougars in order just as counterpart Matt Karabin had done in the home first. In the bottom of the second the first four batters reached for Misericordia followed by a sacrifice fly to score the third run of the inning. Basso got out of the frame with a line drive double play after making a catch on the mound and getting the trail runner at first base.
 
Both pitchers continued to roll along through the top of the fifth inning with the score holding at 3-0 in favor of Misericordia. In the bottom of the fifth, Basso retired two of the first three batters he faced but walked the next two to load the bases. Julian Faria was up for the Cougars and doubled down the left field line, after two runners had crossed the plate the Valiants had a relay and retired Kenny Durling at the plate.
 
Manhattanville got two of the first three runners on in the top of the sixth, but were unsuccessful in bringing either runner home. In the top of the seventh, the Valiants threatened again with two of the first three reaching base followed shortly after by freshman Chris Lattarulo (Armonk, N.Y./Byram Hills) walking to load the bases. However, Karabin was able to bare down and get out of the jam to end game with a 5-0 win.
 
For the game, Karabin (3-1) pitched seven scoreless innings while allowing six hits and struck out six Valiant batters. Basso (2-2) suffered the loss for Manhattanville, while allowing five runs on seven hits while going the distance for his team.
 
In game two, Manhattanville went to bat against Misericordia starter Will Minderjahn in the top of the first and were able to score its first two runs of the day. Freshman Jordanis Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) got things started with a leadoff double, followed by a well-placed bunt single by sophomore Nick Euvino (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac). Senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) grounded out to first, which allowed Nunez to scamper home with the game's first run.
 
Up next was senior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier), who also grounded out and which allowed Euvino to use his quickness and score all the way around from second base as the ball was hit deep in the second base hole.
 
The Valiants sent sophomore Michael Lyon (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) to the bump against the Cougars in game two and started strong after working around a pair of two-out singles to hang up his first zero of the day and send the game to the second inning with Manhattanville still up by two.
 
Joe Tagliarini and Chris Boroch started off the second inning with back-to-back singles, and with the next batter at the plate executed a double steal. As Boroch swiped second, LoVetere then threw the ball down to second, and as he released Tagliarini broke for the plate and stole home without a throw. Three batters later Boroch was brought around on a base knock to tie the game at two apiece.
 
Misericordia added a run in both the third and fourth frames, while adding two more in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead. In the bottom of the fifth, the Cougars blew the game open with a three-run rally off of newly entered pitcher Julian Ponce (Port Chester, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) for Manhattanville, sophomore Zack Zareva (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional) came on and threw a few pitches to get retire the lone batter he faced.
 
The Valiant offense went down 1-2-3 in both the sixth and seventh innings off of Cory Vogeli, as he completed the weekend sweep of Manhattanville.
 
On the mound, Minderjahn allowed the two Valiant runs in the first inning before being pulled in the second for Justin Haddix (1-2), who earned the win after pitching four shutout innings of relief. Vogeli retired six straight as he closed out the game.
 
For the Valiants, Lyon (0-4) was saddled with the loss after allowing four earned runs over four innings of work. Ponce yielded a pair of runs over 2/3 of an inning, while Zareva got out of the fifth frame with a groundout. Sophomore Joe Palmeri (Mastic, N.Y./Eastport/South Manor) pitched the last inning for the Valiants and struck out one batter without allowing a hit.
 
Manhattanville (3-11, 1-4 Freedom) are scheduled to be home tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in a make-up game against Eastern. Due to the chance of snow on Monday, it is likely that the game will be postponed for the third time this season but be sure to check-in to GoValiants.com periodically for the latest schedule updates. Misericordia (12-4, 3-1 Freedom) is slated for non-conference action on Tuesday as they play host to Moravian at 3:30 p.m.