Soldinger Sends Manhattan Past Canisius

Box Score

RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Sophomore John Soldinger pitched his fifth complete game of the season and struck out seven batters along the way as Manhattan (21-12, 13-0 MAAC) defeated Canisius 4-3 on Friday morning at Van Cortlandt Park. The Jaspers scored all four of their runs in the first inning with sophomore left fielder Anthony Vega 's two-RBI double proving to be the decisive hit in game one of Friday's doubleheader.

Soldinger improved his record to 7-1 overall and remains undefeated in the MAAC with five victories. With the win, Manhattan maintains its unblemished home record winning all eight of its contests in Riverdale this season, while also extending its consecutive game win streak to six.

Canisius (17-19, 6-3 MAAC) got on the scoreboard in the opening frame when senior shortstop Sean Jamieson hit his 10^th home run of the year. The blast drove in Golden Griffs' sophomore outfielder Chris Gruarin to put Canisius up 2-0.

Manhattan rallied right back in the bottom of the first inning. Before an out was recorded, senior third baseman Chad Salem knocked in his 40^th RBI of the year after Mark Onorati and Nick Camastro drew back-to-back walks off of Canisius starter Billy Martin. Jaspers' sophomore catcher Ramon Ortega delivered the game-tying sacrifice fly (2-2) following another walk to Austin Sheffield which loaded the bases.

The biggest hit of the ballgame came with two outs in the first inning when Vega gave Manhattan a lead it would hang on to with a two-run double, which rolled all the way to the center field fence. It was his fourth extra base hit in 13 conference games.

Soldinger settled in after the first inning and only allowed three more hits without an earned run the rest of the way. Martin lasted 5 2/3 innings for Canisius and received the loss to fall to 4-2 on the year. He allowed five hits, walked five batters and struck out two.

Canisius pulled within 4-3 of Manhattan in the eighth inning by capitalizing on a routine fielding error. Junior third baseman Drew Pettit got the run across home plate with a sacrifice fly. Although, Soldinger clamped down on the Golden Griffs in the one run game with one-out and the tying run standing on second base. The Bay Shore, N.Y. native struck out Canisius left fielder Shane Zimmer who looked at strike three, and then he forced pinch hitter Frank Polino to ground out.

Soldinger went through three Golden Griffs in order during the ninth inning to secure his fifth straight victory.

Manhattan and Canisius will play their second game of the day at 3:30 p.m. in Van Cortlandt Park. Jaspers' sophomore Eric Luksis (3-2, 4.04 ERA) and Golden Griffs' senior Shane Davis (3-3, 3.93 ERA) are the projected starters.