BOYERTOWN, Pa. – After falling in the Freedom Conference championship game in each of its first two seasons with the conference, the Manhattanville baseball team found out that the third time was definitely the charm on Sunday afternoon as the third-seeded Valiants used a five-run seventh inning to finally put away second-seeded FDU-Florham, 10-3, and win the program’s first-ever Freedom Conference Championship at Bear Stadium.
Manhattanville (21-19-1, 12-9 Freedom) advances to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history and first since 2007, when the Valiants won the Skyline Conference title in their final season with the conference. The tournament begins with the regional round on May 19-23, with the Mid-Atlantic Regional hosted by Kean University. Check GoValiants.com in the coming days to find out when and who the Valiants will be playing in the tourney.
In a battle between two evenly matched teams, the game came down to one inning and essentially a single at-bat in the seventh. With the game tied at three, senior Chris Nastasi (Bayville, N.Y.) lofted a ball down the right-field line that was plenty deep to score classmate Nick Parente (New Rochelle, N.Y.) with the Valiants’ fourth run.
FDU-Florham hoped to get out of the inning without further damage, but sophomore Chris Nardozzi (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) came back from a 1-2 hole to work a crucial walk and load the bases with two down. Up to the plate stepped sophomore Dan Fiorito (Yonkers, N.Y.), who crushed a 1-0 fastball over the left-field fence that turned a 4-3 lead into an 8-3 Valiant advantage and sent the Valiant bench into a frenzy.
Manhattanville added two more in the bottom of the eighth to provide the final touches on a magical afternoon.
Fiorito’s only hit produced a game-high four RBIs, while senior Paul Blejec (Bronx, N.Y.) also drove in three at the top of the order for the Valiants. But Manhattanville’s best offensive player of the tournament resided in the seven-hole, as senior Joe Gallace (Harrison, N.Y.) went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player after hitting .538 (7 for 13) with five RBIs and four runs scored to go with a .923 slugging percentage in the three postseason games.
Senior Steven Arroyo-Falcòn (Bronx, N.Y.) tossed seven strong innings to pick up the win for Manhattanville, as the senior allowed just three runs in seven innings and consistently kept FDU off balance. Arroyo-Falcòn (4-4), who also was the winning pitcher when Manhattanville won its first conference title in 2007, got 13 of his 21 outs on the ground, including three double plays that kept the Devils off the scoreboard early.
Sophomore Glenn Cox, who was scratched from Wednesday’s start against the Valiants, got the ball for FDU-Florham and received a no-decision by allowing three runs on five hits while striking out seven in six innings of work. Bill Buckless (0-1) took the loss, allowing five runs in two-thirds of an inning, including Fiorito’s slam.
Arroyo-Falcòn showed that he was on his game early, as eight of the first nine outs of the game came on the ground, including double plays in each of the first three innings that kept FDU off the scoreboard.
The Valiants opened the scoring in the bottom of the third, and once again it was Gallace in the middle of the action. The shortstop led off the inning with a single and then stole second base, but was still there with two outs before Blejec laced a single to left field that sent him home.
FDU scored once in each of its next two at-bats to take the team’s first lead of the afternoon, as sophomore Steve Seminerio scored on an infield groundout in the fourth and classmate Matt Joiner came home on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
The Devil lead did not last long, as Manhattanville got one back in the bottom half to tie the score. The Valiants had runners on first and third with one out before senior Dave Reider (Yonkers, N.Y.) executed a perfect safety squeeze down the first base line to plate the tying run.
Manhattanville continued to pressure FDU in its next time at the plate, as senior Kevin Murray (Valhalla, N.Y.) led off with a single. After six straight throws to first base with Nardozzi in the box, Cox’s first pitch to the first baseman was lined through the right side to put runners on first and third with one down. Before a pitch could be thrown to the next batter, a balk was called on Cox that allowed Murray to stroll home.
The see-saw battle continued in the top of the seventh, as the Devils came back with a run of their own to tie the score yet again. With two on and two out, junior Dan Pregno somehow squirted a ball just between the left side of the Valiant infield and into left field, allowing the tying run to cross the plate. The danger continued with the bases loaded and two down, but Arroyo-Falcòn buckled down to get an inning-ending grounder to shortstop from senior Marc Hubbert.
That pitch proved to be very important, as it kept the game tied and allowed the Valiants their one final offensive explosion that carried the team to a title.