Manhattan Makes Short Trek To Saint Peter's

Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3

Jersey City, NJ - Manhattan (17-28; 8-10 MAAC) returns to action at Saint Peter's (9-36; 4-14 MAAC) this weekend with a three-game set that will have major playoff ramifications for the Jaspers.

The Schedule
Saturday, May 14 - 12:00 pm doubleheader (9/7)
Sunday, May 15 - 12:00 pm single game (9)

Back-To-Back
Manhattan won its second-straight series last weekend against Niagara, thanks to a pair of dominating pitching performances by sophomore LHP Tom Cosgrove and junior LHP Joe Jacques.

New Year, Same Result
For the second-straight year, the Jaspers earned series victories over both Fairfield and Niagara.

Stat Of The Week
After last weekend's games, Cosgrove and junior Joey Rocchietti are each tied for the team lead in both ERA (3.62) and innings pitched (72.0).

Stat of the Week Take Two
Through 18 MAAC games, Manhattan and its opposition is each batting .274 with identical amounts of both hits (162) and at-bats (592).

Cosgrove Named MAAC Pitcher Of The Week
The Staten Island native turned in arguably the finest start of his career when the Jaspers needed it most against Niagara. The lefty registered his first career complete-game victory while striking out nine, against no walks, and scattering just one unearned run over 9.0 innings of five-hit ball. Cosgrove also retired 21-of-22 at one point, including 14-straight at one point, in notching his second win of the year.

Jacques Earns Second-Straight Win
Jacques earned his second-straight victory in helping secure a doubleheader sweep against Niagara. Over his last four games, Jacques is 2-0 with nine strikeouts and a 1.26 ERA while yielding just 10 hits over 14.1 innings.

The Kandy Man
Junior RHP Shawn Kanwisher was electric in two appearances last weekend at Niagara, striking out five  while facing the minimum over 5.2 innings of one-hit ball, highlighted by a perfect two-inning save in capping Saturday's doubleheader sweep. In his last four games, Kanwisher has 13 strikeouts, against just four walks, over 13.1 scoreless innings. 

More Kanwisher
On the year, he has three saves, a team-leading six wins and 47 strikeouts over 41.1 innings while limiting opposing hitters to a .201 average.

Santy Stat Updates
Senior Christian Santisteban is tied with former standout Matt Rizzotti, who reached the Triple A ranks, for 13th place in the all-time Manhattan annals with 205 hits and with one more double will become just the second Jasper to accrue 60 for his career.

Last Weekend ...
Santisteban went 4-for-8 with two doubles, one home run, four runs, two RBI and two walks last weekend against Niagara and finishes up his career against the Purple Eagles with a .500 average (13-for-26), fueled by eight extra-base hits. On the year, he is hitting a team-best .370 (3rd MAAC) with 61 hits (3rd MAAC), 35 runs, 17 doubles (2nd MAAC), three home runs, 33 RBI, 24 walks and a team-best .451 OBP.

Pena Plugging Away
Freshman Fabian Pena had another big MAAC weekend, batting .444 in the series win over Niagara, with a double, home run, two RBI, two runs and two walks. He has now hit safely in 27 of his last 30 games and ranks among the league leaders in batting .(357-4th), hits (61-3th), doubles (19-1st), home runs (7-2nd), RBI (42-1st) and slugging (.602-1st) to go along with a team-best 12 multi-RBI games and 17 multi-hit games.

Pena Named To Johnny Bench Watch List
Pena was named to the official watch list for the 2016 Johnny Bench Award presented by BaseballSavings.com as announced by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission.

Reynolds Earns Academic Accolades
Pena's fellow catcher, senior Chris Reynolds was voted to the Capital One Academic All-District ® College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) All-District First Team and is now eligible for Academic All-America consideration. 

Of Notes
* Classmate Ryan Gronlier smoked his third career home run in helping Manhattan to a 3-1 win over Niagara in the opener. 
* Freshman Richie Barrella went 4-for-10 (.400) last weekend after going 4-for-32 (.125) over his previous seven games.
* Sophomore Michael Pfenninger has hit safely in 12-of-13 with six multi-hit games while batting .377 (20-of-53) during that time in raising his average 56 points to its current mark of .275. Additionally, he has seven doubles and 10 RBI during that time after registering just one double and nine RBI in his first 30 games. 

Last Time Against Saint Peter's
Manhattan swept its season-ending three-game series against Saint Peter's in 2014 to qualify for the MAAC Tournament. Junior Jose Carrera hit .571 (4-of-7) with a triple, RBI, three walks and three stolen bases en route to being named MAAC Rookie of the Week. Classmate Jason Patnick also had a big weekend, batting .444 (4-of-9) with a double, triple and two RBI. Jacques and Rocchietti also earned wins on the mound.

Interesting
Just five current Jaspers and four current Peacocks saw action the last time the teams met.

Duffy Against Saint Peter's
Head Coach Jim Duffy owns an 8-1 record agianst the Peacocks with seven of those wins coming by three runs or less.

Take Two
Pena (19), Santisteban (17) and Carrera (16) rank 1-2-3 in the MAAC in doubles.

Up Next
Manhattan hosts Iona on Thursday, May 19 at 12:00 pm.