PURCHASE, N.Y. – Junior Matt Mullin (New York, N.Y./St. John's Prep) allowed one run while pitching into the seventh inning, while freshman Jason Cosentino (Valhalla, N.Y./Westlake) allowed one run in his 3 2/3 innings but the Manhattanville baseball team fell at home to the Mount St. Mary Knights on Thursday afternoon by a 2-1 score in 10 innings.

The first two batters reached for the Knights in the top of the first inning as Mullin made only his second appearance of the season, but the lefthander was able to able to get a ground ball out, followed by a walk to load the bases. On a 2-2 pitch to the next batter, Mullin got Mount St. Mary to end the inning by way of a 5-4-3 double play.
 
Both Mullin and Mount St. Mary starter Justin Christensen exchanged zeroes through the first five innings as neither offense was able to do much against the opposing pitcher.
 
In the bottom half of the sixth inning freshman Kurt Hommen (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) led off with a walk, then stole second base with classmate Jordanis Nunez (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) batting. Nunez then walked and the pair of Valiant base runners were moved to second and third respectively as Christensen was called for a balk. Two batters later, senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) hit a long drive to centerfield which was deep enough to score Hommen and put Manhattanville up by a 1-0 score.
 
Mount St. Mary staged a comeback in the top of the seventh inning as Mullin hit the first batter of the inning, who was then moved up on a sacrifice bunt by the next Knight to bat. The next batter singled to centerfield to put runners at the corners while chasing Mullin from the game in the process. Cosentino came out of the bullpen and allowed a single through the left side of the infield to tie the game up at one apiece.
 
The Knights threatened in the bottom of the eighth inning as the first two batters reached via base hits. The next batter bunted the pair over to second and third respectively, followed by Cosentino intentionally walking the next Knight to set up a potential double play. Manhattanville got the ground ball it needed on a 0-1 count, as the Valiants turned their third double play of the contest.
 
Manhattanville had a chance in the bottom of the inning as senior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) hit a one out single, followed by LoVetere surprising the defense with a bunt single to put two on with one out. Senior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) flied out to center which allowed Bucci to move up to third, but the Valiant offense was unable to collect the two-out hit needed to break the deadlock.
 
The game moved to extra innings for the first time in a Manhattanville contest since March 18th of last season against King's. Cosentino continued into the extra frame for Manhattanville and walked the first batter, followed by a tailing line drive double into left field to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. A well-placed base hit through the left side of the infield brought home one runner, which proved to be all that Cosentino allowed as he got the next two batters to send the game to the bottom of the 10th inning.
 
Joe CoFrancesco came on in the bottom of the inning in search of his fifth save of the year and retired the Valiants on three groundouts to end the bottom of the 10th and seal the victory.
 
On the mound, Mullin pitched to a no-decision after going 6 1/3 while allowing one run on five hits while walking a pair and striking out two. Cosentino (0-1) gets saddled with the loss after allowing the go-ahead run on five hits and a pair of walks over 3 2/3 innings. For Mount St. Mary, Christensen (1-1) pitched nine complete innings on 111 pitches to earn the win as he allowed just one run over five Manhattanville hits and four walks, while punching out three batters. CoFrancesco came on for his fifth save, while getting the Valiants in order to end the game.
 
Manhattanville (8-19, 5-7 Freedom) will return to conference play on Saturday afternoon when the team plays host to the King's Monarchs for a doubleheader slated to begin at 1 p.m. Mount St. Mary (9-10, 3-5 Skyline) also resumes conference play on Saturday afternoon, when it plays host to the Purchase Panthers for a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.