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Wappingers Falls, NY - Sophomore Ryan Gronlier's (Doral, FL / Doral Academy) game-winning single in the 14th lifted Manhattan to a thrilling 2-1 win over Fairfield at Dutchess Stadium.
With the victory, the Jaspers improve to 14-25 and 5-8 in the MAAC while the Stags fall to 21-19 and 10-3 in having their 10-game MAAC winning streak snapped.
Manhattan opened the scoring with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first. Senior Christian Santisteban (Miami, FL / Gulliver Prep) laced a double to right field before freshman Fabian Pena (Miami, FL / Calusa Prep) crushed a run-scoring triple to left center.
Sophomore LHP Tom Cosgrove (Staten Island, NY / Farrell) retired the first five batters he faced before running into trouble in the top of the second as David Sacco crushed a two-out triple before Tim Zeng drew a free pass. Undaunted, Cosgrove induced an inning-ending ground out.
The Stags would again threaten in each of the next two frames but Cosgrove rose to the occasion each time in stranding runners at third on each occasion.
Meanwhile, Fairfield starting pitcher John Signore settled down after a rocky first to retire the side in order over the next three innings.
The Stags finally broke through with a single run in the top of the fifth in tying the game up at 1-1. Jake Arciuolo crushed a one-out triple before later scoring on a Brendan Tracy sacrifice fly to left. Cosgrove would evade further damage with an inning-ending strikeout.
In the bottom part of the frame, junior Jason Patnick (Hopewell, NJ / IMG Academy (FL)) led off with a single while extending his hitting streak to a team-high 12 games, before ultimately being stranded at second.
Fairfield again put runners on with two outs in the top of the sixth only to be denied when junior RHP Shawn Kanwisher (Washington Township, NJ / St. Joseph Regional) entered in relief to get the final out of the frame.
After stranding a runner in the top of seventh, Manhattan threatened in the bottom of the ninth. Freshman Richie Barrella (Larchmont, NY / Canterbury Prep) led off with a single before moving to second on Santisteban's second hit. Unfortunately, Signore struck out Pena before inducing a fly out and a pop out to send the game to extras.
Signore earned a no-decision, yielding just a first-inning run on six hits while striking out six and not walking a batter.
In extras, both teams stranded runners in scoring position in each of the 11th and 12th before the Stags had a runner thrown out at the plate in the 13th inning.
The Jaspers finally broke through in the 14th when Patnick smacked his career-high fourth hit with one out and after moving to second on a ground out, scored on Gronlier's aforementioned hit.
Patnick finished up 4-for-6 with a run while Santisteban and Barrella each notched two hits to lead the offense.
Junior LHP Joe Jacques (Shrewsbury, NJ / Red Bank Regional) earned the win, strking out three while yielding just one hit over 2.0 innings in relief of Kanwisher, who finished up with a career-high seven strikeouts over 6.1 gutsy innings of three-hit ball.
Aaron Howell was saddled with the loss, allowing one run over 4.2 innings.
The teams will conclude their series with a 1:00 pm doubleheader on Saturday, April 30.
