POMONA, N.Y. – The Manhattan baseball team fell just short of toppling the top-seeded Fairfield Stags, 8-7, on day two of the MAAC Baseball Championship at Clover Stadium.
Manhattan will face off with Canisius again at 7 p.m. Thursday night in an elimination game.
Manhattan struck first and with authority.
Frankie Marinelli did what he does best in the leadoff spot, get on base. Marinelli connected for a single to right field. Fairfield managed to get the next two Jasper batters out, bringing up
Jack Lynch. Lynch took Fairfield's starter Jake Noviello for a ride to right field to give the Jaspers a 2-0 lead.
Manhattan brought one more around in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead.
Jacob Radziewicz was plunked by a pitch and then moved over 90 feet after
Trevor Santos drew a walk. Marinelli stepped back in and hit a liner to left field and the Stag's left fielder couldn't hang onto it which allowed Radziewicz to cross home.
Fairfield's bats came alive in a big way in the second, plating five runs and forcing the Jaspers starter,
Tyler Fagler, out of the game. The scoring was kicked off by a Matt Bergevin solo shot to left field to lead off the inning. A pair of singles after set the table for Ethan Hibbard who cranked a ball to center field to drive in one more, making the score 3-2.
The Stags tied the game up with a bunt single to third. The final two runs came off the bat of the MAAC Player of the Year, Charlie Pagliarini, who delivered a two-RBI single to take a 5-3 lead when the dust settled on the inning.
Manhattan got one of the runs back in the third. Lynch drew a leadoff walk and was brought around by Radziewicz to get back within one, 5-4.
Fairfield grew the lead to 8-4 thanks to a pair of home runs from Hibbard and Noah Lucier in the fifth and sixth innings respectively.
The Green and White got two of those back in the top of the seventh.
Pete Durocher and Lynch each smacked a pair of singles and were brought all the way around by
Alfredo Delgado who swatted a double to center field, making the score 8-6.
The lead shrank to one in the eighth. Marinelli, Pfannenbecker, and Durocher all singled to load the bases for Lynch. Lynch hit a hard grounder to third and beat the relay throw to prevent a double-play and scored Marinelli to come within one, 8-7. With runners on the corners, the Stags coaxed Delgado into popping out to get out of the inning.
Lynch finished the game with three RBI and Marinelli collected a trio of hits.
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Gallery: (5-26-2023) BSB: vs. Fairfield MAAC Championships
