May 18, 2012

Final Stats

Siena baseball ended the 2012 season Friday afternoon with a 2-1 loss at Manhattan. Despite the Green and Gold being highly competitive in the series finale, the Jaspers completed the three-game sweep by getting out of two late-game jams.

The Jaspers will go into the 2012 MAAC Tournament as the #1 seed, and struck quickly with a run in the first inning off Siena starter Matt Gage. Gage, though, limited the damage to just one run on three hits in four innings, and the team's bullpen was solid as well. Over the final four innings of play, the combination of James Murray, Chris Kearney, and Neil Fryer yielded just a single run on two hits, striking out seven and walking none.

Siena's offense was held in check by Manhattan's Taylor Sewitt, but the Saints had a chance to do damage when he was pulled before the eighth after seven shutout innings. Vincent Citro led off the frame with a triple, and Louis Iannotti drove him in with a single up the middle to put the tying run aboard with none out and the heart of Siena's lineup coming to bat. However, Mike Fish, Larry Balkwill, and John Rooney made three consecutive outs to end the inning.

Down to their last three outs, Siena then tried to manufacture a run in the ninth off Manhattan closer Jacob Marchus. Ted Trymbiski was hit by a pitch to start the inning, Ryan Metzler moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt, and William Cardona's groundout put the tying run 90 feet away with two outs. Marchus, though, bore down, and struck out Andrew Sawyer to end the game.

Citro led Siena's offense with a 2-for-4 day. The Saints outhit the Jaspers 6-5 on Friday, but also left eight runners on base.

The loss ends Siena's 2012 season. The Saints clawed into contention for a spot in the MAAC Tournament, one they will host next week at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy, N.Y., with a three-game sweep of Niagara in late-April. However, the Saints dropped eight of their last nine MAAC games, and finished the year at 18-37 overall and 8-16 in the MAAC.