Riverdale, NY (April 6, 2005)- After a 10 day layoff due to the weather, the Manhattan bats picked up where they left off, pounding out eight runs on 13 hits to defeat the visiting Lafayette College Leopards, 8-2, this afternoon in the Jaspers' home opener. Freshman Matt Rizzotti paced the Manhattan attack, going 3-4 with two home runs and three RBI as Manhattan evens its record at 8-8. Lafayette falls to 9-13.
Manhattan jumped on Lafayette starter Brian Cope early, plating two runs in the bottom of the first. Rizzotti drove home the first run on an RBI single, and Nick Derba scored the second run on a wild pitch.
The Leopards got on the board in the top of the third, when Ian Law tripled home Rob Fioretti to bring Lafayette to within one, 2-1, but Manhattan got the run right back in the bottom of the inning when Rizzotti crushed a ball to right field for the first of his two home runs. The second came in the bottom of the fifth, this time with an opposite field blast to make the score 4-1 in favor of Manhattan.
The Jaspers blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four runs on four hits. Derba started the scoring with an RBI single, which plated John Maser. After Rizzotti drew a walk, John Fitzpatrick brought home Eric Nieto with an RBI groundout before Marc Giordano chased home Derba and Rizzotti with a two-RBI single to bring the score to 8-2.
Law drove in his second run of the day with a single in the top of the seventh to provide the final margin.
Steve Bronder went the first four innings for Manhattan, allowing one run. Kyle Wirtz (2-2) received the win with 2.1 innings of relief, allowing one run. Jeremy Shaw went 1.2 perfect innings, and Jesse Darcy pitched a perfect ninth. Cope (0-4) took the loss for the Leopards, giving up two runs over two innings.
Joining Rizzotti with multiple hit days for Manhattan were Giordano (3-5, 2 RBI) and Nieto (2-2, 2 BB).
Manhattan gets back in action this weekend, April 9-10, when the Jaspers host Marist in a three-game MAAC series beginning with a double header on Saturday at 12 noon.