Live Stats - Game 1 (March 12) Live Stats - Game 2 (March 12)
Live Stats - Game 3 (March 13) Live Stats - Game 4 (March 14)
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Manhattan baseball team begins a four game series at West Virginia (4-7) on Friday at 3 p.m. in Morgantown, W. Va. The clubs will take the field again on Saturday at 1 p.m., and then again on Sunday for the final game of the set at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available to track all the action this weekend.
Manhattan (5-3) is riding a four game winning streak and enters its series with the Mountaineers coming off a 12-8 victory at cross-Bronx rival Fordham on Tuesday. The Jaspers high octane offense, which ranked fifth in all of Division I last season in batting average (.349), is off to a hot start averaging 10.3 runs per game along with a MAAC best .337 team average.
Junior outfielder Mark Onorati has helped anchor the Jaspers offense logging conference highs .548 batting average and eight doubles. Senior Anthony Armenio (.625, 7 RBI) and Ramon Ortega (.563, 6 RBI) have also hit the ball well helping Manhattan to its last four wins. Kevin Nieto, the reigning MAAC Player of the Week, batted .556, drove in eight runs and had three steals as the Jaspers grabbed three wins in four games at Delaware last weekend.
Freshmen Eric Luksis and John Soldinger have highlighted the Jaspers pitching staff to this point. Luksis is coming off his first collegiate victory at Delaware pitching six dominant innings with seven strikeouts and just two earned runs in the 18-8 decision. Soldinger holds a team-best 2.00 ERA over four appearances. He has nine strikeouts in nine innings and recorded a four inning save at #10 Miami and another at Delaware.
In the program's last meeting with a BIG EAST opponent, Manhattan rolled to an 11-4 victory defeating Seton Hall on March 18, 2009. It was the Jaspers first victory over a BIG EAST member since May 14, 2002 when Manhattan defeated St. John's 10-9.
West Virginia is coming off back-to-back wins over Illinois (March 7) and Bryant (March 11). The Mountaineers have won three of their last five contests.
