POMONA, N.Y. – Manhattan kept pace in the race to make the MAAC Championship with an 11-9 win over Iona in game one of the series on Thursday.
Manhattan (23-25, 11-11 MAAC) remains in a tie for sixth place with Niagara, who also won on Thursday. The Jaspers could move as high as fourth based on results over the final two days of the regular season on Friday and Saturday.
Thursday against Iona (5-40, 5-17), the Jaspers scored first before trailing 3-1 after two and a half innings.
David Bermudez led off the inning with a solo shot to right-center field in the bottom of the third. The blast was the 14
th of the season for Bermudez. Three batters later,
Dolan Ocasal drove in a pair to give Manhattan a 4-3 lead, a lead they would not surrender for the remainder of the game.
Frankie Marinelli followed Ocasal with another two-RBI hit of his own.
In the fifth, Bermudez drove in his second and third RBI of the game.
Trevor Santos and
Zahan Meyer scored on the Bermudez single to extend the lead to 10-7. A
Pete Durocher sacrifice fly tacked on the final for the Jaspers.
The Gaels cut the deficit in half with two in the top of the seventh. Will Jennings hit a two-run shot over the short porch fence in right.
Iona got the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the top of the ninth. An error and two singles loaded the bases, but
John Farley got a groundout to third to end the game for Manhattan.
Farley picked up his fifth save of the season and
Will Hesslink collected the win for the Jaspers.
Matt Padre finished two-for-four with three runs scored. Bermudez finished four-for-four, his third four-hit game this season.
The two sides are back in action Friday at 1 p.m. at City Park in New Rochelle, N.Y.
