MADISON, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham baseball team dropped a pair of MAC Freedom games to the Manhattanville Valiants, 7-3 and 9-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Game 1:
In the opening game of the doubleheader series with the Valiants, the Devils were defeated in extra innings 7-3 when Manhattaville pieced together a four-run ninth inning.
Eight different batters recorded a hit for the Devils in the loss to Manhattanville. Meanwhile, Andrew Hille pieced together a fine outing on the mound, allowing just one run and two hits in six innings of work while tallying a season-high nine strikeouts.
After leaving a total of three runners on base in the first two innings of play, the Valiants offense finally capitalized and notched a run on a Robbie Lynch RBI single to left field.
The Valiants went on to add two more runs and grab a 3-0 lead before heading into the bottom half of the seventh.
Trailing by three runs in the final inning of play, Vinny Bonaccorso led things off with a single to left field. Sophomore Christopher Franco followed that up with a double to left field and after Reynaldo Diaz was walked, the Devils had three runners on with no outs.
Bonaccorso was eventually called out at the plate on a fielder's choice, but then DellaPietro stepped up to the plate and knocked in two runs on a two-RBI single through the right side.
With two runners on, Kevin Sinclair drew a base on balls and the bases were loaded once again for the Devils. Sam Coutoufos then came up and hit an RBI single to the left side of the infield and the game was tied at 3-3.
In extra innings, the Devils had a shot to grab the win when the bases were loaded in the bottom half of the eighth, but the Valiants were able to successfully work out of the jam.
In the ninth, the Valiants offense caught fire. With one runner on base, the Manhattanville batters notched three consecutive hits and scored two runs. A few batters later, the Devils had a costly throwing error that allowed the Valiants to plate two more runs and take a 7-3 lead and the eventual game-one victory.
Game 2:
In the second game of the doubleheader FDU-Florham (5-11-1, 1-5 MAC Freedom) was led by Vinny Bonaccorso and Coutoufos, who each tallied two hits in the loss to Manhattanville (11-6, 5-1 MAC Freedom).
The Valiants carried their late-game momentum into the second game and put up three runs in the first inning.
The Devils were quick to answer though and Diaz got things started in the bottom half of the second with a leadoff double to right field. Coutoufos followed the Diaz double up with a single through the left side and then James Bonaccorso knocked an RBI single through the left side to cut the deficit to one.
Coutoufos worked his way over to third on a wild pitch and then came in to score on a Sinclair ground out to the right side of the infield to make it a one-run game.
The Valiants were able to extend their lead after they added a score in the top of the third and then plated a pair of runs in the fourth and seventh to grab the 9-2 conference win.
The Devils will return to the field on Wednesday, March 30 for a road match against Rutgers-Camden slated for 3:30 p.m. in Camden, N.J.
