Box Score Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF)Wappingers Falls, NY - No. 3 Manhattan rapped out 15 hits en route to defeating No. 6 Monmouth 12-8 in the opening game of the 2016 MAAC Championships.
The Jaspers improve to 23-29 and will next face No. 1 Fairfield tonight at 7:00 pm while the Hawks fall to 29-26.
Monmouth opened the scoring in the bottom of the third, clawing out three runs while sending eight batters to the plate only to see Manhattan respond with a big frame.
Sophomore
Michael Pfenninger (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central) led off the fourth with a single before junior
Jason Patnick (Hopewell, NJ / IMG Academy (FL)) crushed a two-run home run to left center. Freshman
Anthony Rocchietti (Green Brook, NJ / Watchung Hills) followed with a walk before moving to second when sophomore
Adam Genners (Jacksonville, FL / Stanton College Prep) reached on a fielding error on a succesful sacrifice bunt. The pair then moved to second-and-third on a
Chris Reynolds (Sr., Wall, NJ / St. Rose) sacrifice. Junior
Jose Carrera (Miami, FL / St. Brendan) followed with a two-run triple to right center to give the Jaspers a 4-3 lead they would not relinquish. MAAC Player of the Year
Christian Santisteban (Sr., Miami, FL / Gulliver Prep) followed with a RBI double to left center before later coming around to score on a
Richie Barrella (Fr., Larchmont, NY / Canterbury Prep) RBI ground out. When all was said and done, Manhattan sent 10 batters to the plate in building a 6-3 lead.
After sophomore LHP
Tom Cosgrove (Staten Island, NY / Farrell) struck out the side in the bottom part of the frame, Manhattan was back at it in the top of the fifth. Rocchietti walked with one out before Genners and Reynolds followed with back-to-back doubles in extending the advantage out to 8-3.
Monmouth immediately got those runs back in the bottom part of the frame before again scoring in the sixth to trim the deficit to 8-6.
The Jaspers answered with two runs of their own in the top of the eighth when MAAC Rookie of the Year
Fabian Pena (Fr., Miami, FL / Calusa Prep) delivered a two-run single against a drawn-in infield, plating Carrera and Santisteban.
Manhattan then extended the lead out to 12-6 in the top of the ninth with two more runs, highlighted by Reynolds' second run-scoring double of the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Hawks trimmed the deficit to 12-8 and had the bases loaded with one out. However, Monmouth would get no closer as junior RHP
Shawn Kanwisher (Washington Township, NJ / St. Joseph Regional).
Cosgrove improved to 5-5 with the win, yielding six runs, five earned, on nine hits with five strikeouts and no walks over 6.0 innings.
Carrera finished 3-for-6 with a triple, three RBI and two runs while Rocchietti was 3-for-4 with three runs to pace five multi-hit performers for the Jaspers.
Click
HERE for the live stats link for the 7:00 pm game against the Stags.
