RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Manhattan freshman Joey Rocchietti matched zeroes with Quinnipiac freshman Thomas Jankins over the first five innings but the Bobcats scored twice in the sixth and twice again in the eighth to take a 4-0 victory in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at Van Cortlandt Park.
Game 1 Recap | Box Score
Rocchietti threw 7 1/3 strong innings in his first conference start. He held the Bobcats scoreless until there was one out in the sixth. Quinnipiac's Vincent Gugl doubled home two runs to break a scoreless tie to make it a 2-0 game.
The Jaspers loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth but Thomas got a strikeout to get out of the jam. Manhattan also got the leadoff man on in the eighth when Jose Carrera ripped a leadoff single and advanced to third with two outs but Thomas again got a big third out when he needed one to keep the Jaspers off the board.
Quinnipiac plated two runs in the eighth to move ahead 4-0. Manhattan's Brendan Slattery drew a leadoff walk in the ninth but was erased on a double play to end the game.
Game 2 Recap | Box Score
Quinnipiac pushed across single runs in the third and the fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead in the middle innings of the seven-inning nightcap.
Manhattan finally broke through in the sixth for four runs to take a 4-2 advantage. Vin Teixeira roped a leadoff single to left field. Evan Brown entered as a pinch runner and quickly stole second base and advanced to third base on a balk with one out.
Yoandary Galan's sacrifice fly brought home Brown to make it a 2-1 game with two outs. Jose Carrera singled to restart the rally and Chris Kalousdian reached on an error to put runners on the corners. The Jaspers then executed a perfect double steal, as Carrera slid home with the tying run and Kalousdian made it to second with the game tied at 2-2.
Brendan Slattery then stepped up to the dish and cracked an RBI double to plate the go-ahead run, giving the Jaspers a 3-2 lead. Christian Santisteban's RBI single made it 4-2 going to the bottom of the sixth.
Nick Girardi struck out the side in the sixth inning but Quinnipiac was able to score twice in the seventh inning to tie the game at 4-4, sending it to extras.
In the ninth, Quinnipiac got its first two runners on and Mike Palladi singled home the winning run to give the Bobcats a sweep of Saturday's doubleheader.
The two teams will return to action on Sunday, March 23 at 3 p.m. in a single nine-inning game at Van Cortlandt Park.