DELAND, FLA. – A bottom of the ninth inning rally by the Manhattan baseball team fell just short in the final game of the season-opening series at Stetson, with Manhattan falling 8-6.
Manhattan falls to 0-3 while Stetson improves to 3-0.
Manhattan got an early jump on the Hatters' starter, Dylan Jacobs. Leadoff man
Frankie Marinelli drew a walk then proceeded to swipe second to move into scoring position.
Pete Durocher also managed to draw a walk to have runners on first and second for
Jack Lynch.
Lynch managed to single up the middle, bringing home Marinelli, Durocher to third while Lynch took second while the Hatters attempted to throw out Durocher at third.
Stetson responded quickly with two runs of their own in their half of the first inning to take a 2-1 lead.
The Hatters extended the lead to 3-1 thanks to a solo bomb off the bat of Christian Pregent.
While the Green and White managed to score one run in the third inning, thanks to
Trevor Santos bringing home
Zahan Meyer, Stetson once again responded a run of their own to return the lead to two, 4-2 at the end of the inning.
The Hatters added an insurance run in the fifth to take a three-run lead but the Jasper bats were not finished. Lynch leadoff the sixth inning by smacking a double. He got to third on a groundout by Santos.
Alfredo Delgado recorded his first RBI of the year off a sac-fly to bring Lynch home and within two runs.
Manhattan capitalized in a big way on a Hatter error in the seventh. Durocher reached on a throwing error by the Hatters' pitcher to bring two more across the plate in Marinelli and
Jacob Radziewicz.
The Hatter's tacked on three more runs in the eighth to break the deadlock and take an 8-5 lead.
In the ninth inning, Manhattan came close to the coveted rally.
Ryan Ash drew a walk to open the inning and was awarded a base courtesy of a Hatter balk to move into scoring position. Marinelli followed it up with a single to move Ash to third, leaving runners on the corners for Meyer, who brought home Ash on a sac fly, making the score 8-6.
Manhattan drew seven walks this afternoon.
The rally was halted in the next at-bat when Durocher grounded into a double play to end the game.
Manhattan will return to Riverdale for a short spell before going to the West Coast for a four-game series with the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners. The series opens on Friday, Feb. 24 with first pitch scheduled for 9:05 eastern time, 6:05 pacific time.
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