Staten Island, NY - Brian Moskey homered and drove in five runs to lift Quinnipiac to an 11-6 win over Manhattan at the 2019 MAAC Championship.
The Jaspers will next play the winner of No. 1 Canisius and No. 3 Fairfield tonight at 7:00 pm.
Despite having two days off, Manhattan kept the momentum rolling in its first trip to the plate with three runs on three hits and a sacrifice fly. Graduate student Shawn Blake (Stratford, CT / Elon) drew a one-out walk, before moving to second on a Nick Cimillo (Fr., Airmont, NY / Suffern) single. Sophomore Matt Padre (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central) followed with a two-strike single to center, while pushing home Blake with the game's first run. Freshman David Moffett (Oneida, NY / Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) followed with a sacrifice fly to score Cimillo. Junior Alex Cerda (Miami, FL / Florida Christian School) then smoked a RBI single through the left side to bring around Padre with the third run of the frame.
Junior RHP Nick Massa (Shrewbury, NJ / Red Bank Regional) was perfect for the first two innings on the mound, before running into trouble in the third. Liam Scafariello hit a two-run homer and Moskey a solo shot to tie it up at 3-3.
The Jaspers quickly responded with the go-ahead run in the top of the fourth thanks to back-to-back doubles off the bats of sophomore Jake Knop (Portland, ME / Portland) and graduate student Cam Crabbe (White Plains, NY / USF).
Manhattan pushed its advantage out to 6-3 with two runs in the top of the fifth inning, when Cerda was plunked with the bases loaded and Knop delivered a sacrifice fly.
Unfortunately, the Bobcats responded with three runs in the bottom part of the frame to tie it up, before taking an 8-6 lead in the sixth on a two-run single off the bat of Moskey.
QU would tack on three insurance runs in the eighth to provide the final 11-6 score.
Cimillo led the way on offense for the Jaspers, finishing up 3-for-4 with two runs, while Cerda matched the 2019 MAAC Rookie of the Year with his ninth multi-RBI performance of the year.
Manhattan falls to 26-32 while Quinnipiac improves to 28-27.
LHP Colin Donnelly struck out three over 3.0 inning of two-hit relief to earn the win for the Bobcats.