RIVERDALE, NY (April 22, 2003) - The Sacred Heart Pioneers broke open a close game in the late innings and held on to beat the Manhattan Jaspers 7-2 Tuesday afternoon at Van Cortlandt Park. The Pioneers improve to 10-21 while Manhattan falls to 17-16.
Manhattan got on the board in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI-single by
Matt Cucurullo (Valhalla, NY). With the basehit, Cucurullo extended his hitting streak to 15 consecutive games.
Sacred Heart rallied for two runs in the top of the third to take the lead. Jason Maiella singled in the first Pioneer run to tie the game at 1-1. After Jamie Schilkowski grounded out to second, Tim Lantz reached on a Manhattan throwing error and
Chris Gaskin's (Rego Park, NY) throw home to try and nail Maiella sailed past catcher
Josh Greco (Kensington, CT), allowing Maiella to score the go-ahead run.
In the top of the seventh, the Pioneers put together a two-out rally with four consecutive basehits. Schilkowski drove in two runs with a single to right and Brian Rojee also knocked in a run with a single to center. Sacred Heart wasn't done yet, tacking on two more runs in the top of the ninth on a single by Maiella. In the bottom of the ninth,
Phil Kuhner (Queens, NY) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring around the second Jasper run, but Cucurullo struck out to end the rally.
Starter
Steve Bronder (Ballston Lake, NY) suffered the loss, pitching three innings and allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts and five walks. He is now 2-4 on the year.
Alex Narus (Wolcott, CT) relieved Bronder and worked the next four innings, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out six.
Scott Wardell (Tabrnacle, NJ) closed out the game and gave up two runs on three hits with one strikeout.
The Jaspers mustered just five hits against starter Rob McKee, who went the distance and collected nine strikeouts for his second win of the season.
Manhattan returns to action tomorrow afternoon hosting Hofstra at 3:30 PM.
