03/12/07

Starter Mark Moriarty gave the Saints seven strong innings of work from the mound and picked up his second win of the day after the Saints took game two of a twin bill against the Valiants with an extra-inning 4-3 win.

St. Scholastica (4-3) broke on top of Manhattanville (1-3) right off the bat with two runs in the top of the first inning.

Blake Eller scored on an RBI double by Steve Kraushaar — his fourth RBI in three games — who then came around to score the second Saints run on a Sean Claugherty single.

After the Valiants chipped away at the lead and eventually tied the score at 2-2, the Saints jumped ahead again in the top of the seventh when Daryl Fuchihara scored from third on a wild pitch.

The Valiants would bounce back to tie the score once again with a run in the bottom half of the inning that sent the game to extra frames, tied at 3-3.

Claugherty worked his at bat in the top of the eighth for a walk. Dan Lanari pinch-ran and moved to third on a Darin Carlson single then came home for what would end up being the game-winning run on a Brandon Swartz single to put the Saints on top 4-3.

Manhattanville got out of the inning surrendering only that one run but it was enough for St. Scholastica’s Keith Ritsche who came on in relief of Moriarty to start the eighth. Ritsche picked up the save with a scoreless inning, allowing only one hit while picking up a strikeout to close out the Saints victory.

Moriarty, the doubleheader’s game one winner with a single inning of relief, gave up four hits and a walk while limiting Manhattanville to two earned and three runs total through seven full innings of five-strikeout baseball.