BOYERTOWN, Pa. – FDU-Florham jumped out to a 6-1 lead and freshman Mike Winters closed the door with 2.2 scoreless innings as the fifth-seeded Devils upended top-seeded Manhattanville by a 6-4 score in game one of the 2009 Freedom Conference Tournament on Saturday morning at Bear Stadium.
FDU-Florham (21-12-1, 9-7 Freedom) advances into the winner’s bracket and will play the winner of today’s second game between second-seeded Wilkes University and third-seeded Alvernia University tonight at 7:30 p.m. Manhattanville (24-16, 11-5 Freedom) will face the loser of the Wilkes-Alvernia clash in an elimination contest beginning today at 4:00 p.m.
The first two innings of the game were played last night, in a game that was delayed five hours and 26 minutes by rain and fog and eventually suspended after two full innings. The Devils led 1-0 after two innings and never relinquished the lead.
With both starters taken out following the suspension of the game, FDU-Florham jumped on junior Matt Nigro (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) for one run in the top of the third and two more in the fourth to lengthen the team’s 1-0 lead. Senior Jimmy Sheppard doubled his team’s lead with a two-out double, and the Devils increased their lead to four runs with a pair of RBI groundouts in the fourth.
Manhattanville got one back in the bottom of the fifth on a run-scoring single by senior Stephen Pinto (Yonkers, N.Y.), but freshman Matthew Mizerek recorded back-to-back strikeouts with the bases loaded to quell the Valiant threat.
After FDU-Florham took a 6-1 lead in the top of the sixth, the Valiants attempted a comeback in the bottom of the seventh. The first two batters of the frame reached base and an infield single by sophomore Joe Gallace (Harrison, N.Y.) loaded the bases with one out, and junior Kevin Murray (Valhalla, N.Y.) followed with a two-run single that barely found its way through the right side to cut the FDU lead to 6-3.
A single to center field by senior Mike Mooney (Mahopac, N.Y.) further decreased the deficit to 6-4, but Winters came out of the pen with the bases loaded and induced a huge first-pitch double play to swing the momentum back in favor of the Devils.
The twin killing was a huge weapon in Winters’ repertoire on the morning, as he used double plays in both the eighth and ninth innings in addition to his one in the seventh inning to quell any Valiant rally attempts and give the Devils an upset win to begin the tournament.
Junior Steven Arroyo-Falcón (Bronx, N.Y.) began the game on Friday night for Manhattanville and suffered the loss, giving up one run on two hits over the first two innings before not coming back out on Saturday. For FDU, freshman Matthew Mizerek pitched the first 4.1 innings on Saturday to improve to 4-3 on the year, giving up four runs on eight hits. Winters earned his first save of the year with his 2.2 scoreless innings.
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