May 22, 2009
Box Score
TRENTON, N.J. - Junior shortstop Richard Curylo (Staten Island, N.Y.) belted a two-run homer to left field with two outs in the top of the 11th inning, lifting the Marist baseball team to a 4-3 victory over Manhattan in the winners' bracket final of the 2009 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Championship. The Red Foxes have now advanced to the championship round, and will have two chances to win one game in order to become tournament champions.
Saturday's game is slated for 1 p.m. The third-seeded Red Foxes will face the winner of Friday night's elimination game between top-seeded Manhattan and second-seeded Canisius. The first pitch of the contest between the Jaspers and the Golden Griffins is slated for 8:19 p.m.
Senior closer Jacob Wiley (Cape Vincent, N.Y.) pitched the final 2.1 innings to earn the victory, his fourth in his last four appearances. Wiley is now 9-1 on the season. Wiley relieved junior right-hander B.J. Martin (Manalapan, N.J.), who allowed just one earned run in five hits in 8.2 innings.
Manhattan got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by third baseman Chad Salem, which scored left fielder Mark Onorati. In the fifth, the Jaspers ran their lead to 2-0 when Salem's RBI groundout scored right fielder Kevin Nieto.
In the Marist sixth, red-shirt catcher Bryce Nugent (Binghamton, N.Y.) led off with a single. With one out, junior first baseman Ryan Gauck (Clifton Park, N.Y.) belted an opposite field home run to left field, tying the score at two apiece.
Marist designated hitter George Agostini (Rehoboth, Mass.) led off the 11th with a single, his third hit of the game. However, when an attempted bunt turned into a 3-6-4 double play, the Red Foxes then had no one on and two out. Senior right fielder Kyle Meyer (East Greenbush, N.Y.) then re-started the Marist rally by drawing a walk, and Curylo belted an 0-1 pitch out of the park for his third home run of the year.
Manhattan mounted a charge in its half of the 11th. After Wiley induced a groundout to start the inning, first baseman Austin Sheffield was hit by a pitch. Catcher Jamie Fitzgerald then singled down the right-field line, putting runners at the corners with one out and the potential winning run at the plate. Wiley then picked off Fitzgerald for the second out. However, shortstop Ryan Masters singled to right field, scoring Sheffield and cutting Marist's lead to 4-3. Nieto then lofted a long fly ball to right field, which Meyer made a running catch on just in front of the warning track to end the game.
If the Red Foxes fall in Saturday's 1 p.m. game, they will still have the opportunity to play for the championship in a second game, which will start approximately one hour after the first game ends.
