Box Score (PDF)
Staten Island, NY - No. 5 Manhattan saw its season come to a close by an 11-5 count to No. 3 Fairfield at Richmond County Bank Ballpark.
The Stags improve to 35-24 and will next play for the 2019 MAAC Championship, while the Jaspers end the year with a 26-33 mark.
Fairfield opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first as Jack Gethings doubled with two outs, before scoring on Anthony Boselli's RBI single. The Stags added to their advantage in the third as Gethings plated Tim Zeng with a sacrifice fly.
Manhattan finally broke through with three runs in the top of the fourth. Juniors
Dominic Palma (Hilton, NY / Hilton) and
Alex Cerda (Miami, FL / Florida Christian School) led off the frame with back-to-back singles. After Palma was erased on a fielder's choice bunt, Cerda took third on a wild pitch, before scoring on an error. Sophomore
Jake Knop (Portland, ME / Portland) then crossed the plate on freshman
Jonathan Barditch's (Miami, FL / Belen Jesuit Prep) RBI single through the right side. Classmate
Sam Franco (Bardonia, NY / Clarkstown South) then brought around graduate student
Cam Crabbe (White Plains, NY / USF) with a RBI ground out to cap the scoring.
Unfortunately, Fairfield answered with four runs in the bottom part of the inning in opening up a 6-3 advantage.
In the top of the fifth, the Jaspers would get one run back as freshman
Nick Cimillo (Airmont, NY / Suffern) led off with a double, before coming in to score on a line-drive single off the bat of Palma.
That would be as close as Manhattan would get as the Stats plated five runs in jumping in front by an 11-4 count.
Manhattan capped the scoring with a run in the ninth, as Cerda played Palma with a sacrifice fly.
Palma finished up with three hits and a RBI while Cerda, Barditch and sophomore
Matt Padre (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central) all had two hits.
Dan Ryan was 3-for-4 with three doubles and two runs while Gethings finished up 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs.
RHP Nick Grabek (3-2) earned the win, striking out two over 3.0 innings.
