PURCHASE, N.Y. – Senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) struck the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the eighth inning of Saturday's doubleheader over the first base bag to drive home a pair of runs as the Manhattanville baseball team came away with a 3-2 walk-off victory over the FDU-Florham Devils on Saturday afternoon. The Valiants also took the first game from FDU-Florham by a score of 3-1 to help keep the Valiants' playoff hopes alive at the time.
 
Manhattanville knew coming into the day that it needed a pair of wins over a solid FDU-Florham team for any hope to make the Freedom Conference Tournament next weekend. The wins, coupled with Misericordia needing to sweep the Wilkes Colonels on Saturday was a tough task to overcome but all broke right on a day where Manhattanville honored it's seven departing seniors.
 
The seniors honored between games were Matt Petrunti (East Granby, Conn./Loomis-Chaffee), Bashir Masani (Westbury, N.Y./W.T. Clarke), Don Fisher (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham), Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier), John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester), Raul Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y./DeWitt Clinton) and LoVetere.
 
In the second game, Valiant junior starter Spencer Samelson (Larchmont, N.Y./Mamaroneck) worked in and out of trouble in the first inning as he stranded the bases loaded. The Valiant bats also went down without scoring a run in both the first and second innings to send the game to the top of the third, where a defensive miscue brought home the first FDU-Florham run as the Devils once again opened the scoring.
 
The bottom of the fourth began with Ferguson driving a ball over the right fielder's head as the senior ran into second with a leadoff double. A wild pitch moved Ferguson to third, and on ball four to sophomore Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) another ball went to the backstop that allowed Ferguson to run home with the tying run.
 
Both teams went down without much offense in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings as Samelson matched FDU-Florham starter Jake Hazen zero-for-zero to send the game to extra innings. In the top of the eighth, the Devils scratched across a run to take a 2-1 lead.
 
In the bottom of the inning, junior Elias Tsouristakis (New Rochelle, N.Y./Fordham Prep) hit a clutch base hit to put the tying run on base and was pinch run for by Petrunti. Junior Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) then worked out a walk after being down in the count 0-2, up next was freshman Jordanis Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond), who was trying to sacrifice the pair to second and third but instead dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line and loaded the bases.
 
Up next was LoVetere, who was at the plate after a visit to the mound by the FDU-Florham coaching staff. With the first pitch from Chris Wirth-Kenyon, LoVetere poked an opposite field single over the first base bag to score both Petrunti and Arias for the tying and go-ahead runs to clinch the win for Manhattanville. LoVetere was swarmed on the field by the entire team before he could even reach second base as the Valiants walked-off on the Devils 3-2 in eight innings.
 
However, the task was not complete as Misericordia and Wilkes were playing late in their second game with the Cougars leading 5-1 and looking to close out the game. The team paying close attention to the out-of-town score, erupted as the final out was confirmed about 10 minutes after the conclusion of their own victory, as they knew they were heading to the Freedom Conference Tournament for the second straight season.
 
Earlier in game one, the Valiants sent sophomore Michael Lyon (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) to the hill in search of his fourth win of the season, but the defending Freedom Conference Rookie of the Year allowed a first inning run to the Devils to put Manhattanville in a 1-0 hole.
 
In the bottom of the inning, Manhattanville put the first two runners on as Nunez and sophomore Nick Euvino (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) singling. With Ferguson batting, Euvino stole second base and FDU-Florham's catcher threw the ball into the outfield which allowed Nunez to come in with the tying run. LoVetere was up next and brought home Euvino with the eventual game-winning run with a groundout to the shortstop.
 
Lyon allowed doubles in each of the following two innings, but was able to keep the Devils in check as he continued to pitch well and will his team to yet another win on the last day of the conference season for the second consecutive season. An error in the top of the fourth put the first Devil on base, but Lyon got a ground ball that was turned into a 4-6-3 double play before getting the final out of the inning.
 
After Lyon had retired the side in each the fifth and sixth innings, the Valiant bats awoke once again when sophomore Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) reached on a one out single. Brady alertly took third base as Bucci struck out swinging, but the third strike was dropped and Brady moved to third as the FDU-Florham defense was completing the putout. Tsouristakis singled to centerfield to score Brady and give Manhattanville and insurance run at 3-1.
 
In the top of the seventh, Lyon retired the first two men he faced then allowed a single to bring the tying run to the plate. On a little dribbler in front of the plate, LoVetere threw down to first base to complete the game and give Manhattanville its first victory of the day.
 
Picking up the win in game one was Lyon, as he pitched his second complete game of the season allowing just one run on five hits while striking out six. In game two, Samelson pitched to a no-decision after completing his best start of the season going 7 2/3 innings while allowing one earned run on seven hits and three walks, freshman Julian Ponce (Port Chester, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) was credited with the victory after retiring the final batter in the top of the eighth inning.
 
Manhattanville (12-26, 9-12 Freedom) clinches the fourth seed and will play top-seeded Misericordia in the Freedom Conference Tournament beginning next Friday, but first it will have two final games to wrap-up the regular season beginning on Tuesday afternoon when the team hosts Western Connecticut State at 4 p.m. FDU-Florham (16-20, 11-10 Freedom) is the No. 3 seed and will play second seeded DeSales in the Freedom Conference Tournament, but will also play Western Connecticut in a tune-up game on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.