Baseball drops doubleheader against Manhattan

The Marist baseball team lost both ends of a doubleheader to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference [MAAC] rival Manhattan on Saturday. The Red Foxes were shut down by Jasper pitcher Jesse Darcy in game one of the doubleheader. Darcy hurled a complete game, allowing just one run on six hits as Manhattan cruised past Marist 6-1. In game two, the Red Foxes rebounded from a Mike Garcia two-run home run only to yield a two-run walk off double to Garcia in the bottom half of the seventh inning to give the Jaspers a 7-6 win.

The two wins improved Manhattan to 11-0 in the MAAC and 18-11 overall. Marist saw its record fall to 4-7 in the MAAC and 7-21 overall.

Despite a tough loss in the opening game, the Red Foxes' bats heated up in game two, and they found themselves in a position to win.

Manhattan opened up the game in the fifth inning when Mike Garcia deposited an Erik Supplee pitch over the left field fence with two outs. The two-run home run gave the Jaspers a 5-2 lead, but Marist responded. Freshman shortstop, Richard Curylo, made the score 5-4 when he hit one of his three singles off Manhattan pitcher Josh Santerre. Red Foxes Max Most and Justin Lepore followed up Curylo with consecutive RBI singles, giving Marist a 6-5 lead.

The story of the day would be Mike Garcia's bat however, and the senior from Miami, Fla. came through for the Jaspers again in the seventh. After Rene Ruiz and Matt Rizzotti singled for the Jaspers, Garcia ended the game with a walk-off double. Garcia finished the game batting 2-3 with five RBI, including a home run in the fifth inning.

The loss for the Red Foxes marks another tough finish and a game that got away. The second game of the doubleheader is a microcosm of the Marist season and head coach Dennis Healy reiterated those sentiments.

"It's a hard loss to swallow," Healy said. "We have had leads in nine games with less than five outs to go and lost."

The Marist pitching failed to hold the lead that the Red Fox offense regained in the fifth inning by scoring four runs.

Coach Healy was pleased that the bats came alive in the second game but stressed the need for the pitching to improve.

"We came out and swung the bats pretty good," Healy said. "Guys in the middle of the order have to hit in order to win or else you're going to lose. We need to pitch better out of the bullpen though. Our closer Eric Alessio has shown some signs of being really good, but he gave up some hits."

One positive for the Red Foxes after the weekend was the offensive emergence of freshman shortstop Richard Curylo. Although Curylo has struggled in the field, his offensive presence has made an immediate impact in the Marist lineup.

"Offensively, his progress has been outstanding and shortstop is a bigger jump from high school to college," Healy said. "He has been a little disappointing defensively, but he hit .500 over the weekend for us and is getting progressively better."

In game one of the doubleheader, Marist found itself tied at one entering the fifth inning, but the Jaspers would pick up two from a Rene Ruiz single and a Matt Rizzotti home run.

Manhattan would then tack on three more runs in the eighth inning, sealing the 6-1 victory.

Marist was led by Ryan Gauck and Keith Glasser, both contributing two hits each.

The Red Foxes will be back in action for a weekend series at Iona. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 21 and close the series out on Sunday.