PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville baseball team defeated the Western Connecticut State Colonials on Tuesday afternoon by the score of 11-9 at Manhattanville Field. Seniors Raul Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y./DeWitt Clinton) and Sean Ferguson (Astoria, N.Y./Xavier) combined on seven hits, five RBI and four runs scored to lead the offensive charge for the Valiants.
 
Manhattanville tied a season-high with 19 hits on the afternoon, tying the 12-3 win over Delaware Valley and the 21-13 slugfest loss to Staten Island earlier in April.
 
Senior Don Fisher (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) got the start for Manhattanville, and despite working at a meticulous pace, he pitched well scattering six hits while allowing just one run in his five innings of work as he ended up picking up his first victory of the season.
 
Manhattanville crossed the first run around as Rodriguez singled deep in the hole to shortstop and moved up to second and third on a pair of groundouts. Ferguson brought home his classmate with a single through the hole on the left side of the infield to put the Valiants up 1-0 in the third inning.
 
The Valiants continued to keep the bats going in the next inning as junior Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) singled to left field then moved up to second on a passed ball. Two batters later, Arias was nearly caught stealing at third base but Colonial starter Zach Taylor threw the ball out of play, which allowed Arias to score.
 
The rally continued as sophomore Nick Euvino (Bronx, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) reached on an infield base hit, then promptly stole second and third, as has become the habit for the fleet-footed centerfielder. Junior Elias Tsouristakis (New Rochelle, N.Y./Fordham Prep) hit a ground-rule double down the left field line, and later came home on a base knock by Rodriguez. Three batters later, Ferguson collected another RBI as Rodriguez touched the plate to put Manhattanville up 5-0.
 
Western Connecticut notched its first run in the top of the fifth but the Manhattanville offense answered immediately in the next half inning. Sophomore Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) singled, and was later replaced by senior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) on a fielder's choice. Rodriguez then put a charge into a ball that landed against the right centerfield fence to score Tsouristakis, who had driven in Bucci during his at bat. After stealing third, Rodriguez came into score as the catcher's throw went into left field to make it 8-1 after five.
 
Junior V.J. Collins (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Arlington) came into pitch in the sixth inning and failed to record an out, but was bailed out by sophomore Zack Zareva (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional), but not before the Colonials plated six runs to pull Western Connecticut back within one at 8-7. The biggest blows of the inning were a pair of two-run doubles off the bats of Chris Alberto and Conor Bierbrodt in back-to-back at-bats.
 
The Valiants regained some breathing room as they loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, and this time it was Euvino to put a hit into centerfield to plate two needed insurance runs.
 
Junior Alex Basso (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) pitched an inning of relief in the seventh, which also saw Euvino make a lunging catch in right centerfield before throwing it back in to first base to end the inning on an 8-4-3 double play.
 
Ferguson added another RBI to his ledger in the next half inning to score Nunez and give Manhattanville an eight-run cushion.
 
Up next out of the bullpen was junior Matt Mullin (New York, N.Y./St. John's Prep), who hit the first man he faced but got the next batter. Mullin went on to allow two runs in the inning as once again the Colonials pulled back within two.
 
Manhattanville went down in order in the bottom of the eighth inning, and then handed to ball off to junior Joe Pareres (Bronxville, N.Y./Fordham Prep) to close out the game. Pareres walked the first man he faced but got the next three batters to seal the victory for the Valiants.
 
Fisher picked up the win to improve to 1-2 on the season, while Collins, Zareva, Basso and Mullin bridged the gap to Pareres who picked up his first career save. Suffering the loss was Zack Taylor (1-2) after allowing eight runs on 13 hits in the first 4 2/3 innings. Craig Frobel allowed three runs in 1 1/3 innings, while Rob Valunas set down the Valiants in the eighth.
 
Manhattanville (13-26, 9-12 Freedom) will play its final home game of the regular season tomorrow afternoon when it hosts Vassar at 4 p.m. Western Connecticut (14-22, 3-9 Little East) will play Manhattanville's Freedom Conference foe FDU-Florham in Madison, N.J. at 3:30 p.m.