DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Manhattanville baseball team split with the Delaware Valley Aggies on Friday afternoon at Frank Wolfgang Field. In game one, the Valiants fell by a 4-2 mark before coming back and defeating the Aggies by a 4-3 score.

Freshman Jordanis Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) started off the opener by walking on a 3-2 pitch.  Sophomore Nick Euvino (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) tripled over the centerfielder's head to chase Nunez all the way around and put Manhattanville up 1-0. Two batters later, senior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) drove in a run on a groundout to second base to give the team its second straight fast start against Delaware Valley.

In the bottom of the inning, the Aggies tied the game up with a pair of runs off of Valiant starter Alex Basso (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley). Pete O'Hara got things started with a leadoff single then stole second, Jim Calabrese was up next and bunted back to Basso who threw to first but was not in time, O'Hara rounded third and scored while sliding under the tag of senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury). Three batters later the Aggies scored another run on an error to tie the game.

The Valiants were unable to do anything in the top of the second against Cody Hudnall as he retired the team 1-2-3. Basso did the same thing in the bottom of the inning facing the minimum of three batters.

Manhattanville strung together a rally in the top of the third but were unable to bring across any runners. In the bottom of the frame Delaware Valley tacked on an additional run to take its first lead of the game at 3-2.

Senior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) walked with two down in the top of the fourth, followed by junior Elias Tsouristakis (New Rochelle, N.Y./Fordham Prep) hitting a base knock to right field. Nunez walked to load the bases, but Euvino grounded out to third to eliminate Tsouristakis and the threat to regain the lead.

In the top of the fifth, LoVetere led off with a base knock through the right side before Ferguson put a charge into a ball that was caught on the warning track in deep left-center. Hudnall was able to settle down and retire the next two batters to send the game to the bottom of the fifth.

In the bottom of the sixth, Basso ran into trouble after getting through the fourth and fifth without allowing a run. The Aggies loaded the bases, and after getting one runner out at the plate on a groundout, Delaware Valley worked out a walk to score a run and put the home team up by a pair. Basso was able to strand the bases loaded by getting O'Hara to fly out to rightfield to end the inning.

The Valiants went down with just one base runner in the top of the seventh inning as Chris Kelly finished the game with a two-inning save.
Basso went the distance to take the loss after allowing three earned runs on seven hits to fall to 2-3 on the season. Hudnall picked up the win after going five innings while allowing the two first inning Valiant runs on four hits. Kelly allowed one walk over two innings to pick up the save.

In game two, the Valiants got two of the first three batters on in the top of the first but were unable to bring anyone around against Calabrese who started the game on the hill for game two after starting in the infield in the opener. The Aggies also got two of their first three runners on base but strung together a few consecutive hits against Valiant starter Michael Lyon (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) to take the early 3-0 lead.

The top of the second saw the Manhattanville offense chip away at the lead when Euvino reached on a well-placed bunt ahead of Nunez getting on with a single up the middle. LoVetere grounded out to score one, while Ferguson reached on a fielder's choice that erased Nunez trying to score. Calabrese struck out the next batter to end the top of the inning.

Lyon pitched well into the third inning but had a brief hiccup in the frame as he allowed a pair of singles and a walk but got out of trouble with a groundout to Tsouristakis at third.

In the bottom half of the frame Manhattanville picked up its first lead of the game as sophomore Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) and Arias singled to lead off the frame. Two batters later Tsouristakis singled to score a run followed by Euvino picking up an RBI with a sacrifice fly. Nunez singled to right field to bring around Tsouristakis and put the Valiants up 4-3.

Sophomore Joe Palmeri (Mastic, N.Y./Eastport/South Manor) came on to pitch in the bottom of the sixth after Lyon allowed a one out single and a walk. Palmeri struck out the first batter he faced, and followed with a long at bat against Sennett before striking him out as well.
Palmeri allowed a two-out singled in the bottom of the seventh but was able to slam the door shut and pick up his third save of the season.

Lyon picked up the win to improve to 1-4 on the year in 5 1/3 innings while allowing three runs on eight hits. Palmeri picked up the save going 1 2/3 innings and allowing just the one hit. The losing pitcher was Calabrese who allowed four runs on 10 hits over six innings of work, while Kelly finished off the second straight game pitching just one inning this time around.

Manhattanville (5-14, 3-6 Freedom) will not return to the field until Tuesday evening when the team travels to take on a strong Old Westbury team on Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. Delaware Valley (8-10, 2-6 Freedom) will be taking on a strong team as well with the Maine-Presque Isle at April 1 at 3:30 p.m.