QUAKERTOWN, Pa. – Junior Alex Basso (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) pitched into the 10th inning and ended the game with 149 pitches thrown to keep Manhattanville in the first game of the Freedom Conference Tournament against top-seeded Misericordia. The Valiants took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th inning and were able to make the lead stick to pick up the victory.
For the second straight season, the Manhattanville baseball team opened the tournament with a victory after defeating Misericordia in the first game last season by an 11-5 score. With the win, the Valiants advance in the winners' bracket to a game against either DeSales or FDU-Florham at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
After having chances in the first two innings, the Valiant offense continued into the third inning as freshman Jordanis Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) singled then stole second. Two batters later, senior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) struck a double to break the scoreless tie and put the Valiants ahead by a 1-0 score.
Basso continued to make the 1-0 lead hold as he pitched well through the deep Misericordia lineup. In the fifth inning, Misericordia put its first runner on base and bunted him over to second with the first out. Basso got the next batter to fly out, then allowed a single to right field that Ferguson picked up and threw to the plate to keep the Cougars off the board.
The game continued into the latter innings as Basso's pitch count continued to grow, but he retired the Cougars in order in the seventh, then allowed a leadoff walk in the eighth but got around it without allowing anything further. In the ninth, Misericordia's Kenny Durling led off with a walk and was bunted to second before a groundout moved him to third. With Joe Tagliarini up, he grounded the ball to third but a high throw pulled sophomore Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) off the bag allowing Misericordia to tie the game.
The game then moved to extra innings. Junior Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) led the inning off with a single and Nunez follwed by bunting in an attempt to move the go-ahead run into scoring position, but instead got a base hit out of it. Senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) then got down a successful sacrifice bunt, moving the runners to second and third.
The Cougars then walked Ferguson to load the bases and bring up sophomore Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington). The Valiant leftfielder sent a ball toward the right field line that was caught in foul territory by a diving Mike Comerford, but Arias tagged at third and sprinted home with the go-ahead run as the Valiants broke the tie.
Basso came out for the the bottom of the 10th and got the first batter looking at an inside fastball. Kyle Lindsay was up next and singled up the middle, then caught the Valiant defense napping and swiped second base. Sophomore Joe Palmeri (Mastic, N.Y./Eastport/South Manor) was then called on to get the final two outs and got a fly out and a slow dribbler in front of the plate to clinch the victory.
Picking up the win was Basso (5-5), who lowered his season ERA by nearly a run to 4.22 as he struck out five batters while allowing one unearned run and scattering four hits. Palmeri picked up his sixth save by retiring the final two batters.
Manhattanville advances to the 3 p.m. game tomorrow afternoon against the winner of tonight's contest between the DeSales Bulldogs and the FDU-Florham Devils. Live coverage of all the games are available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/misericordia/baseball/xlive.htm