Riverdale, NY (May 20, 2004)- Nick Derba singled home Jonathan Holzer with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to win game two of today's MAAC twin bill at Van Cortlandt Park, 4-3, over Fairfield. Mike Parisi went six strong innings in the first game as Manhattan won, 5-3. The sweep, coupled with LeMoyne's double-header sweep of Siena, puts the Jaspers in their second straight MAAC Tournament, and improves their overall record to 22-25-1, 15-9 in MAAC play.
In the second game, Manhattan tied the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh as Sylvester Gutierrez led off the inning with a pinch-hit single. Holzer then came on to pinch run, and, after stealing second, came home on Derba's RBI double to center to send the game into extra innings and set up his own eighth inning heroics.
The Jaspers got on the board first, plating a run in the bottom of the second when Gary Diaz doubled home Frank Cappello, who had reached on an error. Fairfield (16-26, 11-15 MAAC) responded with three runs in the top of the third on a RBI single by Doug Anderson and a two-RBI single by Jim Girolamo.
Manhattan got one run back in the fourth on a solo homer by Cappello before Derba came through with his two RBI hits to win the game.
Steve Bronder (4-3) went the final two-thirds of an inning to pick up the win in relief of Josh Santerre, who allowed three runs over 7.1 innings, with five strikeouts. Ed Kamintzky (4-1) took the loss, going 1.2 innings.
In the first game, Manhattan plated four runs on four hits in the bottom of the third to take an early 4-0 lead. The Jaspers started the rally after the first two outs of the inning had been recorded as the next five batters reached safely. After a walk to Derba and a double by Cappello got things started, Sam Deluca drove home the first run with an infield single, plating Derba. Cappello scored on a wild pitch before Chris Gaskin connected on a single to score Deluca. Matt Cucurullo then singled to center to score Gaskin and give Manhattan a 4-0 lead.
The score remained 4-0 into the seventh before the Stags staged a rally of their own. After Manhattan started Mike Parisi had held Fairfield to just three hits over the first six innings, the Stag bats came to life, scoring three runs on four hits. Andy Lynn singled home the first run, before an RBI groundout by Doug Anderson and a RBI sacrifice fly by Antuan Barnett brought Fairfield to within one, 4-3.
Manhattan scored an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when Derba singled home John Maser, and Santerre came out of the pen to record the final two outs of the game to pick up his second save of the year. Parisi (4-5) went six-plus innings, allowing one earned run while striking out five. Jesse Darcy pitched 2.1 innings of relief, allowing two hits before giving way to Santerre. Tim Dugan (4-8) went seven-plus innings for Fairfield, allowing three earned runs while tallying four strikeouts.
The two teams conclude their three-game series tomorrow, May 21, with a nine-inning game slated to begin at 12 noon.