MAHWAH, N.J. – The Manhattanville baseball team fell to its second nationally ranked opponent of the season on Wednesday afternoon as the team fell to the No. 14/20 Ramapo by the score of 16-5 in non-conference action from Jeff Maund Field.
 
The Valiants jumped on Ramapo starter Nick Cavanaugh quickly as sophomore Nick Euvino (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) singled through the left side on the first pitch of the game. Euvino then stole second and third with and a batter later, scored on a fielder's choice by senior Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) to put Manhattanville up 1-0. With Ferguson on first, senior Johnny LoVetere (Southbury, Conn./Canterbury) and sophomore Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) knocked back-to-back singles as Ferguson crossed the dish to make it 2-0.
 
Sophomore Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) was up next and reached on a fielding error, which allowed LoVetere to score. A passed ball pushed Guerra and Brady into scoring position, but the Valiants were unable to capitalized and settled for a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first innings.
 
Senior Bashir Masani (Westbury, N.Y./W.T. Clarke) got his first career start, after 19 relief appearances to start his career, and walked the first man he faced. Masani got the next two batters then allowed a two out single to put runners on first and third. The senior then got the next batter to foul out to Brady and retired the side. Masani had an easier inning in the second as he set down the Roadrunners in order to send the game to the third.
 
After getting the first batter out of the inning, the three next Ramapo batters reached to load the bases. A base hit to left field scored the first Roadrunner of the game to trim the Valiant lead to 3-1, followed by Masani engaging in a seven-pitch at bat before striking out the next batter. Up next was outfielder Kevin Kelly, who struck a double to left centerfield to clear the bases and give Ramapo its first lead of the game at 4-3. Kelly came around on a single by the next batter, but Masani ended the rally by getting a lineout to Ferguson in the outfield.
 
In the bottom of the fourth sophomore Brian Lobel (Purchase, N.Y./Harrison) went to the mound and retired the first batter he faced before walking the next Roadrunner on a 3-2 pitch. Lobel then got the next two on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout to retire the side. In the top of the fifth, freshman Kurt Hommen (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) reached on a one out single to centerfield, and moved up to second on a wild pitch. However the Valiants were unable to bring him in as they continued to trail by a 5-3 song.
 
Lobel put the first three runners on base in the bottom of the fifth, and was followed up by junior Ryan Blinderman (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde). The Roadrunners ended up scoring seven runs in the inning as Blinderman failed to record an out, and it was junior Matt Mullin (New York, N.Y./St. John's Prep) to record all three outs of the inning while allowing two inherited runners to score.
 
The Valiants answered with a pair of runs in the next half-inning as Manhattanville got three straight batters on with a pair of hits and an error. Junior Elias Tsouristakis (New Rochelle, N.Y./Fordham Prep) struck out swinging but a wild pitch allowed a run to score to make the game 12-4 Ramapo. Two batters later with Euvino batting, another wild pitch was thrown and another run scored for the Valiants.
 
Ramapo scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings off of Mullin and graduate student Donny Pitasi (Mount Kisco, N.Y./Fox Lane) respectively to take a 14-5 lead heading to the eighth inning. The Roadrunners scored once more in the eighth inning off of freshman pitcher Jason Cosentino (Valhalla, N.Y./Westlake) to cap off the scoring at 16-5.
 
Taking the loss was Masani (0-1) after allowing five runs in three innings of work. Lobel, Blinderman, Mullin, Pitasi and Cosentino all had earned runs scored against them as the quintet capped off the final five innings for the Valiants. Earning his first win of the season was Cavanaugh (1-0) with three runs over five innings, Mark Doyle allowed a pair of runs in one inning of work. A trio of Ramapo pitchers capped off the game with one inning of work each.
 
Manhattanville (10-21, 7-8 Freedom) will return to conference play on Friday afternoon when the DeSales Bulldogs make their way to Manhattanville Field for a single game slated for 3:30 p.m. Ramapo (21-5-1, 6-3-1 NJAC) will also return to conference play tomorrow afternoon with a home game slated for 3:30 p.m. against Rutgers-Newark.