POMONA, NY - The Iona College baseball program came up short in its season finale losing to Manhattan 8-3, at Clover Stadium on Saturday morning. The Gaels got RBI's contributions from
Phoenix Bowman,
Chris Mariani, and
Jim Kemp in the road loss.
GAME SUMMARY
For the third time this series Iona managed to grab the lead first, scoring a run before even recording an out during their first plate appearance. The game began with back-to-back doubles from
Nick Forney and
Jake Field leading to Bowman's sac-fly, scoring Forney and putting the Gaels on the board.
Manhattan quickly answered, scoring all eight runs in the first three innings of play. A two-run single up the middle from Jack Lynch put the Jaspers in front but with the bases-loaded
Joey Kasper picked up an inning ending strikeout to escape further trouble. However, staying on the attack Manhattan managed three more runs in the second via an RBI single from David Bermudez and a two run homer from Pete Durocher to create more separation at 5-1. With runners on first and second Durocher delivered another early blow with a three-run home run to open the Manhattan lead to 8-1 after three innings of play.
The Gaels bullpen between
Thomas O'Sullivan,
Eric Gialloreto,
Matt Zguro, and
Gavin Bates kept Manhattan off the scoreboard during the final five innings. After allowing the home-run, O'Sullivan bounced back to throw a scroless fourth and Gialloreto followed up, tossing two scoreless innings while adding a strikeout in the sixth. Pitching out of relief for the second time this series, Zguro retired the side in the seventh adding a strikeout on his way to his third straight scoreless outing. Bates closed out the Gaels strong bullpen outing, facing the minimum in the eighth inning as Iona relievers managed to retire the last nine batters they faced.Â
The Gaels picked up two more runs in the seventh and with the bases-loaded Mariani picked up his fifth RBI of the series, scoring Forney on a sac-fly. Kemp delivered the Gaels final run of the season, scoring Field on an RBI single up the middle to cut the lead to 8-3. Unfortunately the Gaels couldn't put together any more scoring opportunities and the Jaspers would take the season finale and the series from the Gaels, 8-3 at Clover Stadium.Â
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