Box Score
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Manhattan baseball team rallied from down one twice in their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) series finale with Saint Peter's but were unable to take a lead as the Peacocks walked-off in the bottom of the ninth. The loss helped the Peacocks (14-25, 7-8 MAAC) salvage a game over the weekend, while preventing the Jaspers (19-23, 8-10 MAAC) from reaching the .500 plateau in league play.
Both starters were impressive to begin the game as Michael Martin and Zach Hopf each kept the other team off the boards for the first four innings. In the bottom of the fifth, Martin struck out Vincent Maietta to begin the frame before William Rawson laced a triple right center. He would then be followed by Jon Kristoffersen's double to break the scoreless tie. After a Matt Speckmann ground out advanced the runner to third, Sean Abbate would be brought on in relief and promptly get Matt Mancini to ground to second for the final out of the inning.
The Jaspers made their first rally in the top of the sixth when Nick Camastro was hit by a pitch with out. Andrew Gorecki then beat out an infield single and advanced to second on an error by the shortstop Kristoffersen to put runners at second and third. Ramon Ortega then lifted a deep fly ball right, scoring Camastro on the sacrifice fly. Jared Hirschberg then came on to pitch a scoreless sixth before Matt Jordan set down the side in order in the seventh.
Saint Peter's would then regain the lead in the home half of the eighth as Speckmann singled to begin the inning before advancing to third on a pair of ground outs. With two outs and a runner on third, Chris Grimes hit a ground ball to first that was misplayed by Kyle Murphy allowing an unearned run to score as the Peacocks took a 2-1 lead.
Again they would rally in the top half of the ninth on Ortega's one-out homerun, but that would be all they could muster. In the bottom of the frame, Robert Moore singled to start things off. A sacrifice bunt would advance the winning run into scoring position and force Manhattan to go to the bullpen once again. Kevin Bonanni would be charged with sending the game into extra innings, entering with one on and one out. Brian Schroeder's pinch-hit single would put runners at the corners with only one out before Kristoffersen singled to right for the win.
Jordan (2-6) was saddled with the loss giving up two runs, one earned, on two hits in two and one-thirds innings. Hopf (2-7) got the win tossing a full nine innings allowing two runs, one earned, on only four hits and striking out eight. The Peacocks outhit Manhattan 10-to-4 in the game with Kristoffersen being the only player with multiple hits.
The Jaspers are back in action on Tue., April 30 when they travel to cross-Bronx rival Fordham for a 7 p.m. game.
