Wappingers Falls, NY - Manhattan defeated Saint Peter's 5-1 on Senior Day to clinch the No. 5 seed for the upcoming MAAC Championship.
By virtue of their win, the Jaspers will face No. 4 Iona on Wednesday, May 24 at Sal Maglie Stadium with first pitch tabbed for 3:30 pm.
Senior Matt Simonetti (Manalapan, NJ / Manalapan) set the tone for Manhattan on the mound, yielding just two hits and one walk with three strikeouts over 5.0 scoreless innings.
The Jaspers dented the scoreboard first with one out in the second as senior Matt Forlow (Cold Spring, NY / Haldane) hit his third home run of the year, a solo shot to left field.
Manhattan added to its lead with a big two-out rally in the third. Sophomore Richie Barrella (Larchmont, NY / Canterbury Prep) singled with one out before junior Brendan Bisset (New City, NY / Don Bosco Prep (NJ)) reached on a two-out, infield single. Junior Fabian Pena (Miami, FL / Calusa Prep) then found a hole in plating Barrella. Senior Evan Brown (Asburnham, MA / Bridgton Academy (ME)) followed with a two-run double before coming in to score on a Forlow RBI single in stretching the lead out to 5-0.
That would be all that Simonetti and the Jasper pitchers would need as Saint Peter's could only muster a seventh-inning run.
Pena went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a stolen base and a RBI to pace Manhattan while also breaking his own single-season school record for two-baggers and now has 24.
Forlow went 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI, a walk and a stolen base while junior Brandon Valls (Miami, FL / Dean CC) also had two hits to round out the multi-hit performers for the Jaspers.
Manhattan concludes the regular season with an 18-33 record (12-12 MAAC) while Saint Peter's ends its year at 0-38 (0-24 MAAC).
Prior to the game, the Jaspers recognized their five seniors that are expunging their eligibility:
Jose Carrera (Miami, FL / St. Brendan), James D'Angelo (Scotch Plains, NJ / Scotch Plains-Fanwood), Shawn Kanwisher (Washington Township, NJ / St. Joseph Regional), Jason Patnick (Hopewell, NJ / Hopewell Valley) and Joey Rocchietti (Green Brook, NJ / Watchung Hills).