Lawrenceville, N.J. (May 7, 2006)-
John Fitzpatrick's three-run homer, his fourth of the series, in the seventh gave Manhattan a 6-0 lead, and
Jesse Darcy allowed no earned runs over 8.0 innings as the Jaspers defeated Rider, 7-2, to take the rubber game of the three game MAAC series this afternoon at Sonny Pittaro Field. Manhattan improves to 22-20, 12-8 in MAAC play, and, with Niagara's loss at Le Moyne, moves back into fourth place in the MAAC standings. Rider, which falls out of first place with the loss, drops to 22-25, 15-6 MAAC.
After four scoreless innings, Manhattan was the first to put up a crooked number, as
Eric Nieto's single up the middle chased home
Rene Ruiz with the game's first run in the top of the fifth. The Jaspers would add another in the sixth, as
Ryan Marcoux's single would plate
Dom Lombardi to make the score 2-0 after six innings.
In the seventh, after an out, back-to-back singles by
Nick Derba and
Mike Garcia put runners on first and second for
Matt Rizzotti, who came through with a single to right, scoring Derba and moving Garcia over to third. Fitzpatrick followed with a three run shot, his career-high tying ninth of the season, to open up a 6-0 lead.
A Marcoux RBI single in the ninth would sandwich single runs by the Broncs in the eighth and ninth to provide the final margin.
Matt Nevins struck out the side in the ninth.
Manhattan gets back in action on Tuesday, May 9, when the Jaspers host Saint Francis-N.Y. at 3:30 p.m. at Van Cortlandt Park.
