PURCHASE, N.Y. – A two run home run by sophomore Hans Arias (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond's) in the bottom of the ninth brought the Manhattanville Valiant baseball team to within one run of nationally ranked Ramapo on Tuesday afternoon, but the Valiants were unable to tie the game in their 6-5 loss.
 
The game started out with freshman Zak Zareva (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional) taking the hill for his second career start in just under a week, and found himself in early trouble. Marco Carolla singled with one out and stole both second and third base, and later came in to score on an RBI base hit by Ian Osterman. The next batter came up and loaded the bases with an infield single, but Zareva was able to get out of the frame with a strikeout while stranding the bases full.
 
In the bottom of the second the Valiants tied the game as freshman Bobby Guerra (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) reached on a one out single and stole second base to put himself in scoring position. Up next, making only his third start of the season was freshman Nate Trashansky (Babylon, N.Y./North Babylon) who collected his first career RBI with a base hit up the middle to even up the game.
 
The Valiants took their first lead of the game off of Roadrunner starter Walker Larson as another pair of freshman combined to score Manhattanville's second run. Freshman Kevin Brady (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) reached base after getting hit by a pitch, and then promptly stole second a few pitches later. Brady moved up to third on a groundout by junior John Bucci (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) and later came in as Guerra singled up the middle.
 
In the top of the fifth Ramapo regained their one run lead after a long two run double was struck by Matthew Hancock to deep centerfield. The next batter was walked on four pitches, forcing Zareva to the showers and bringing on sophomore Davis Jones who struck out the next batter on three pitches, followed by a first pitch fly out.
 
In the bottom of the fifth sophomore Elias Tsouristakis (New Rochelle, N.Y./Fordham Prep) got a two out rally started with a double into left field that chased Larson from the game. Senior Dan Fiorito (Yonkers, N.Y./Fordham Prep) doubled home Tsouristakis to knot up the game once again at three runs apiece.
 
Jones allowed the first two batters to reach in the top of the sixth and were bunted to second and third respectively with the first out of the inning. Carolla was up next for the Roadrunners and hit a two RBI single to put Ramapo up by a 5-3 edge, after the next two batters reached Jones was pulled for left-hander Matt Mullin (New York, N.Y./St. John's Prep) who retired the next batter to end the frame.
 
Carolla was once again a thorn in the Valiants' side when he led off the top half of the eighth with a single, Carolla then stole second and advanced to third after the umpire ruled that Arias was obstructing the base runner from reaching third and awarded Carolla third base. The next batter hit a fly ball deep enough to centerfield to bring home the sixth Roadrunner run to put up the guests by a 6-3 margin.
 
In the bottom of the ninth junior Raul Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y./DeWitt Clinton) skied a pitch above home plate that the wind aided and dropped in between the pitcher's mound and home plate for a double as Rodriguez took second when no one was covering at second base after all the infielders had converged on the pop up. The next batter was Arias who redeemed for his obstruction play the inning earlier with his first home run of the season to straight away centerfield to cut the lead to 6-5. However, Daniel Youngsman of Ramapo was able to get the next three batters to clinch the win for the Roadrunners.
 
Earning the win was Youngsman (2-0) who pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits, after coming on for Larson who pitched 4 2/3 and allowed the first three Manhattanville runs on five hits. Taking the loss was Jones (0-2) who allowed a pair of runs on three hits in just over an innings worth of work, he was followed by Mullin who allowed a run on two hits in 1 2/3 innings, while junior Don Fisher (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) finished off the game allowing no runs on two hits in 1 2/3 innings as well. Zareva finished the game allowing three runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings while striking out three.
 
Manhattanville (14-17, 8-10 Freedom) returns to Freedom Conference play this Friday for a 3:30 p.m. matchup with the DeSales Bulldogs. Ramapo (27-8, 9-5 NJAC) travels on the road for the second straight day when they take on the Old Westbury Panthers tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. on Long Island.