PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville baseball team split their final Freedom Conference doubleheader of the season on Saturday afternoon earning a 2-0 win in the opener before falling in the nightcap by a 9-6 score. With the opening win coupled with a Wilkes victory over Delaware Valley, the Valiants reach the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons since joining the conference.
 
"We have a bunch of good young kids, and they worked hard," said Valiant manager Jeff Caulfield. "I'm excited to be playing in the playoffs this season, our guys really deserve it."
 
Between games the Valiants honored their five seniors playing their final home game at Manhattanville Field as part of Senior Day, the five who were honored were Donny Pitasi (Mount Kisco, N.Y./Fox Lane), Dan Fiorito (Yonkers, N.Y./Fordham Prep), A.J. Marini (Fair Lawn, N.J./Paramus Catholic), Pat Yannucci (New Hyde Park, N.Y./Sewanhaka) and Chris Nardozzi (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham).
 
In the first game the Valiants sent freshman Michael Lyon (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) to the hill in search of his fifth win of the season, and pitched his first career complete game to do so. He retired the side in order in the top of the first and sent it to the bottom of the first where junior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) got the inning started with a ground-rule double down the leftfield line. Fiorito was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second, two batters later junior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) hit a double to bring home LoVetere. Fiorito then came home on a sacrifice fly by freshman Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep).
 
The two run lead was all Lyon needed as he mowed down 11 of the next 13 batters. During the fourth inning of that stretch he allowed the first hit and allowed two more in the seventh inning but did not yield a run to the Bulldogs. On the other side of the ball David Drinks didn't allow a run after the first inning and, he matched Lyon by eliminating a stretch of 11 of 13 Valiant hitters to end the game.
 
Earning the win was Lyon (5-1) who pitched the complete game shutout allowing three hits while walking one and striking out three. Drinks (4-4) took the complete game loss after allowing a pair in the first inning on two hits while walking one and striking out four.
 
In game two the Valiants sent Marini to the mound and worked in-and-out of trouble in the first inning but held the Bulldogs off the board. In the bottom of the first Fiorito put the Valiants on top with a solo homerun to right field to put Manhattanville up 1-0.
 
Both Marini and DeSales starter Travis Hughes exchanged zeroes over the next few half innings until the bottom of the third when freshman Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) got plunked to start the rally. Sophomore Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond's) reached on a single and both he and Guerra moved up during the next at bat on a passed ball. LoVetere was up next and hit an infield single to third base that allowed Guerra to score after Bulldog catcher Nick Fischer to make the score 2-0. Fiorito then singled to bring home Arias, while two batters later Ferguson picked up his second sacrifice fly of the afternoon to increase the Valiant lead to four.
 
In the top of the fourth DeSales regained the lead with a seven run outburst that started off with back-to-back homeruns off the bats of Ethan Moser and Brian Mauro. The next three batters reached forcing the Valiants to pull Marini for classmate Yannucci who got the first batter out on a sacrifice fly before allowing the next two batters to reach. Yannucci was then pulled for freshman Joe Palmeri (Mastic, N.Y./Eastport/South Manor) who allowed one inherited runner to score while getting the final two outs of the frame.
 
Mauro led off the top of the fifth with his second homerun in as many at bats, while Palmeri got the next two outs. A walk and a single to the next two batters made Manhattanville go back to the bullpen again, this time for sophomore David Jones (Lanesboro, Mass./Mt. Greylock) who got the next better to end the inning.
 
Kenny Ridge manufactured a run himself by walking and moving up to second on a groundout, he then stole third and scored as catcher Jeff Moskowitz (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury) threw the ball in leftfield allowing the run to score to increase the lead to 9-4. Junior Don Fisher (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) came in for the Valiants during the seventh inning and recorded two outs after Jones had retired the first of the inning.
 
In the bottom of the seventh the junior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) got a rally started with a single, and was pinch ran for by sophomore Billy Brusack (Yonkers, N.Y./Iona Prep). Pinch hitter T.J. Hewett (Wethersfield, Conn./Wethersfield) reached on an infield single, followed by Guerra driving in Brusack with a double. Arias was up next and grounded out to bring home Manhattanville's sixth run, but Hughes shut the door by retiring the last two batters to earn the split of the doubleheader.
 
Earning the win was Hughes (6-2) who pitched the complete game while allowing six runs on nine hits. Marini (1-3) takes the loss allowing five runs on six hits in three plus innings of work. Yannucci allowed a pair of runs in 1/3 inning of work, Palmeri and Jones pitcher over an inning of work each while they both allowed a run on two hits. Fisher finished off the game by getting the final two outs.
 
Manhattanville (15-19, 9-12 Freedom) earns the fourth seed in the upcoming Freedom Conference Championship, while DeSales (27-12, 17-4 Freedom) earns the second seed. The top seed of the tournament is Misericordia and the third seed goes to FDU-Florham. The Valiants' next game comes on Tuesday evening at 5:00 p.m. when they finish off the regular season with a non-conference game at Western Connecticut State.