Crean Homers UAlbany Baseball Past Manhattan, 9-4, in Non-Conference Action

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Albany, N.Y. – Freshman Kyle Crean smacked a one-out, two-run homer in the sixth inning to lead the UAlbany to a 9-4 non-conference win over Manhattan at Varsity Field on Tuesday, April 15.

UAlbany (9-24-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Senior left fielder Tom Zink was hit by the first pitch of the inning. After advancing to second on a balk, junior shortstop Sean Donovan laced a single up the middle to plate Zink. The Jaspers answered back in their half of the second with a single run. Senior catcher Dom Lombardi tripled to the center-field fence with one out and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Austin Sheffield.

Manhattan (14-15-1) took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning with a two-out rally. Senior Eric Nieto walked and stole second to get into scoring position. He then advanced to third on a wild pitch when Mark Onorati walked, and crossed the plate as brother Kevin Nieto singled through the left side. The Great Danes evened the score in the home half of the fifth. Junior catcher Ryan Gugel walked with the bases loaded to force in classmate Gary Pitcheralle.

Crean gave the Great Danes the lead in the sixth by pulling a two-run shot over the fence in right field. UAlbany tacked on four runs on two hits in the seventh inning. Crean, Pitcheralle and Zink drew consecutive walks with the bases loaded to force in three runs. Donovan then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Crean for an 8-2 lead.

The Jaspers got two runs back in the top of the eighth, but could not cut further into the UAlbany lead. Lombardi singled through the left side to plate Onorati and Kevin Nieto, who reached after being hit by pitch and a walk, respectively. The Great Danes closed out the scoring with a single run in the bottom of the eighth. Freshman designated hitter Jamie Liebowitz singled through the left side to knock in senior first baseman Mike Konstanty from second.

Matthew Herrick picked up the win in relief, striking out two in an inning of work. Zac Goyer took the loss for the Jaspers, yielding four runs on four hits over 5.1 innings. The Great Danes, who have won four of their last five contests, return to action at Binghamton on Friday, April 18 at 3:00 p.m. to start a four-game America East Conference series.

-agate-
Manhattan (14-15-1) 010 010 020 - 4 3 3
UAlbany (9-24-1) 100 012 41X - 9 8 0

Manhattan: Zac Goyer (L, 0-2), Mike Tibbetts (6), Tom Moran (7), Andrew Sutherland (8) and Dom Lombardi.
UAlbany: Nate Novak, Matthew Herrick (6, W, 1-0), Marco Rivera (7), Hunter Moffatt (8), Chris Ott (9) and Ryan Gugel.