Spartanburg, S.C. (March 11, 2007)- Senior Rene Ruiz could not have picked a more opportune time to belt his first collegiate home run. After Wofford College sent the game into extra frames with a run in the bottom of the ninth, the shortstop smacked the first pitch he saw when he came to bat in the top of the 10th over the right field fence, and the Jaspers ended the game with a double play to win the third game of its series with Wofford this afternoon.
Manhattan got on the board early and often, scoring five runs over the first three innings. After a scoreless first inning, Nick Derba led off the top of the second with a double, and moved over to third on a single by Dom Lombardi. A Ryan Masters sacrifice fly plated Derba with the game's first run, though the Jaspers were just getting warmed up. Rene Ruiz reached on a single, and Nunzio Franzese doubled, scoring Lombardi. Eric Nieto then grounded out to third, but a Wofford error allowed Ruiz and Franzese to score to make the score 4-0 in favor of Manhattan after two innings.
Derba connected on a solo homer to center in the third to up the advantage to 5-0.
Wofford would respond with three runs in the bottom of the frame, taking advantage of a Manhattan error and wild pitch to draw within two, 5-3.
Wofford would add single runs in the sixth and seventh to knot the score at 5-5 before, in the top of the ninth, Manhattan would scratch out a run. Eric Nieto led off the inning with a double, moved over to third on a groundout by his younger brother Kevin Nieto, before scoring on a Mike Garcia double.
A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth would again tie the score at 6-6 and send the game into extra innings, setting up Ruiz's blast in the top of the 10th.
In the bottom of the 10th, Wofford would put runners on first and second with one out. The next batter singled to left, but Eric Nieto was able to throw the runner out at the plate, and Derba alertly threw the ball to third to get the Wofford runner trying to advance, ending the game.
Tom Moran picked up his first collegiate win in relief, while Brian Pendergast earned his first collegiate save.
Manhattan will travel to Florida for Spring Break, and open up the week with a two game series at Florida International on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 13-14, with both games slated to begin at 7:00 p.m.
