Baseball

FREEDOM CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS - OPENING ROUND
Manhattanville College 5, Delaware Valley College 2

QUAKERTOWN (PA) - Frank Albano went the full nine innings and allowed just two unearned runs as top-seeded Manhattanville College posted a 5-2 victory over No. 4 Delaware Valley College in the opening round of the Freedom Conference Championships held at Quakertown Memorial Park.

With the loss, the Aggies (24-16) fell into the consolation bracket where they must defeat No. 3 Arcadia University, a 5-4 loser to No. 2 DeSales University, on Saturday (11:00 am) to stay alive in the tournament. Manhattanville improved to 26-11 and will play DeSales on Saturday afternoon for a spot in the championship game.

Albano permitted just six hits while improving to 5-3 on the year. He walked four batters and fanned seven.

The Valiants led 3-0 going into the top of the eighth inning when Delaware Valley hit the scoreboard. With one out, Kyle Bobb struck out but reached first on a passed ball and Zach Jakubowski followed with a walk. Kevin Weingart stepped to the plate and the junior centerfielder delivered a double to right-center that scored Bobb and moved Jakubowski to third. Mike Isgro then knocked in Jakubowski and sent Bobb to third with a sacrifice fly to right. Brent Terlecky then drilled a liner but right to the Manhattanville centerfielder to end the inning.

However, the Valiants answered with two of its own in the bottom of the stanza to regain their two-run lead. With a runner on first and two outs, Delaware Valley thought the home plate umpire had called a third strike to end the inning. However, the pitch was called a ball and Jason Monforte stole second on the play. The next pitch was then hit into right-center by A.J. Triano and Monforte scored for a 4-2 lead. Joe Gallace then singled to put runners on first and third and the Valiants pulled off a double steal to bring home another run.

Delaware Valley put one on in the ninth, but Albano got the next three batters to end the contest and advance Manhattanville in the winner's bracket.

The Valiants scored in the opening stanza as Delaware Valley tried to turn an inning-ending double play, but threw the ball away for an error. They then added to their lead in the sixth as Monforte blasted a two-run homer over the right field fence. Monforte finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

Weingart and Travis Roth each went 2-for-4 for the Aggies with Weingart also adding an RBI. Isgro fell to 6-3 on the year as the sophomore went six-plus innings and allowed three runs (two earned) and seven hits while fanning two.