FAIRFIELD, CT – The Manhattan Jaspers baseball team (7-13, 2-5 MAAC) fell to the Pioneers of Sacred Heart University (10-9, 5-2 MAAC) by a score of 9-6 at Veterans Park on Friday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Jaspers were looking to get back in the win column. They Had lost four straight entering their second conference series of the campaign and started off strong to open up the game on the defensive end.
- Starting pitcher Andrew Castelluccio allowed a two-out double down the leftfield line but eventually got out of trouble by forcing a swinging strikeout to end the home half of the first.
- In the visiting half of the fourth inning, the Jaspers got on the board first with a two-RBI triple into right field to drive home Andreaus Lewis and Aidan Taclas.
- The Jaspers extended its lead to three with Dylan Mayer knocking a single into left field, followed by Aidan Katzman driving him home with a sacrifice fly into center field.
- Following a game-tying home run and further damage in the eighth inning by the Pioneers, the Jaspers clawed its way back in the ninth inning.
- The Green and White capitalized on a new pitcher and were able to get players aboard the basepath. Mayer added to his run-batted-in total on the day when he drove in Lewis.
- After Katzman worked a walk, Jeremy Sosa hit a sacrifice fly into centerfield to drive home the former Pioneer and current Jasper, Tyler Galletti.
- The next batter was Guriyandel Salva, who singled up the gut to narrow Manhattan's deficit to just three, which brought home Mayer from third, but wasn't enough in the opening game of the three-game set.
STATS AND NOTES
- Junior Trevor Hansen knocked his second career triple against the Pioneers this afternoon. The only other time the Skillman, NJ, registered a three-bagger was against Rider on the final weekend of the 2023 season.
- With another base hit today at Sacred Heart, senior Andreaus Lewis extended his hitting streak to four straight games and has logged hits in seven of his last eight games dating back to the start of the Siena series two weeks ago in the Capital Region.
- Junior Aidan Taclas has been red-hot of late, as he's logged four straight games with a hit and is looking to make it five in Game Two on Saturday. The San Francisco product has recorded hits in 14 of his last 15 games played.
- Freshman Jeremy Sosa extended his hitting streak to five straight games this afternoon against Sacred Heart, where he went 1-for-4 on the day. Sosa has recorded nine hits in 21 total plate appearances throughout the streak.
QUOTES FROM THE JASPERS:
Head Coach Steven Rosen: "Tough one today. Played well enough to win for the majority of the game but didn't execute a couple of key plays late in the game that really hurt us. Andrew Castelluccio pitched another tremendous game and gave the team a strong chance to win. Excited to see our guys bounce back tomorrow."
NEXT UP:
Manhattan is back in action tomorrow, Saturday, March 22, inside Veterans Park for the second game of the three-game set beginning at 1 p.m. The contest can be viewed on Pioneers Plus for free by logging onto GoJaspers.com.
