PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville baseball team opened up its home schedule with a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Eastern Eagles on Saturday afternoon. The game was stopped after the conclusion of the sixth inning after snowfall began to accumulate against the outfield fence, while also keeping the pitchers from both sides from handling the ball properly.
 
The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was not played and will be made up at a later date still to be announced.
 
Sophomore Michael Lyon (North Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) went to the hill for his first home start, and worked around a leadoff single to retire the side. In the bottom of the inning, Manhattanville jumped on the board first with as both freshman Jordanis Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) and sophomore Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) walking with one out.
 
The next batter was senior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier), who struck out swinging as both runners were looking to steal second and third respectively. Eastern catcher Greg DeSarro threw the ball down to third base forcing both runners to retreat, third baseman Brendan Spall then threw across the diamond trying to get Brady out at first base but instead threw the ball into the Manhattanville dugout allowing Nunez to score the first run of the game.
 
After getting the lead, the Valiants quickly gave it right back in the top of the second inning as Tyler Orr reached on a single and advanced to second on a throwing error, before making it to third base via a balk. Eric Rossi drove Orr home with a single, and later came around to score on a two-run single by Angelo Kelly to put the road team up by a 3-1 score.
 
Sophomore Nick Euvino (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) reached in the bottom half of the inning with one out and promptly stole second and third base, but the rest of the Valiant offense was unable to bring around the speedster. Lyon and Eagle starter Ernie Stiegler exchanged 1-2-3 innings in the third frame, while Lyon hung up another zero in the fourth inning.
 
In the bottom of the fourth, Manhattanville had a golden opportunity to score as Ferguson singled, followed by senior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) placing a sacrifice bunt down the first base line and reached to put a pair of runners on. Two batters later, Euvino tried to sacrifice the two seniors to second and third but also reached on a well placed bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Stiegler ended the run by getting the next Valiant batter to foul out to first base.
 
Eastern tacked on an insurance run in the top of the fifth as Brandon Kenish singled and stole second, then came around to score on a throwing error by Manhattanville. The Valiants got out of any further harm due in large part to senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) throwing a pair of runners out on the base paths before Lyon struck out DeSarro to end the inning.
 
As the snow continued to fall at a faster rate the playing field became an issue as the Eagles were able to load the bases in the top of the sixth. Lyon was pulled one batter into the inning for classmate Zack Zareva (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional), who retired the final two batters to end the inning and strand the bases loaded. In the bottom of the inning, sophomore Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) reached on a two-out single, but Eastern got out of the inning once again.
 
The game did advance to the top of the seventh inning, and Eastern had built up a 10-1 lead, but with two outs in the inning the umpires met with both head coaches and decided to end the game without going any further. By rule, the score then reverts back to the last complete inning (the 6th inning) and therefore negated the six runs Eastern had scored in the top of the seventh.
 
Earning the win was Stiegler (2-1), after going the complete game while allowing one Valiant run on four hits and striking out six. Taking the loss was Lyon (0-3), as he allowed three earned runs on seven hits while striking out a pair. Zareva got the final two outs for Manhattanville in the top of the sixth inning.
 
At this time, no make-up date has been announced for game two of today's scheduled doubleheader. Check back to GoValiants.com for the most up-to-date schedule, and when a make-up has been announced.
 
Manhattanville (3-7, 1-1 Freedom) will be back on the diamond this Thursday when they travel to Bronx Community College to take on Baruch at 3:30 p.m. Eastern (5-4, 1-1 Freedom) will be back in action on Tuesday when it travels to take on Cairn at 3:30 p.m.