Cain, Cimillo Lead Manhattan To DH Split

Game Two Box Score 
Game One Box Score

Boone, NC - Playing in torrential wind gusts, Manhattan split Sunday's doubleheader with Appalachian State, winning game two 5-4 after dropping the opener 14-5.

Freshman Nick Cimillo (Airmont, NY / Suffern) led the way on offense for the Jaspers, going 5-for-9 with a home run, two runs and two RBI in the doubleheader while graduate student Shawn Blake (Stratford, CT / Elon) was 4-for-8 with a double, three runs and two walks.

Both teams are now 2-4 following today's results.

Game Two
For the second-straight Sunday, the story of the day was John Cain (Middletown, NY / Lafayette) as the graduate transfer led Manhattan to a 5-4 win over Appalachian State.
 
The towering 6-10 lefty struck out eight, scattering just one unearned run on four hits over 6.2 dominating innings, in moving to a perfect 2-0 on the year.

The Jasper bats got going quickly in the top of the first as Blake doubled with one out before Cimillo plated the Nutmeg State native with a RBI single.

Manhattan extended the lead out to 2-0 in the top of the second as sophomore Jake Knop (Portland, ME / Portland) scored on a Richie Barrella (Sr., Larchmont, NY / Canterbury Prep) sacrifice fly.

Appalachian State got one run back in the bottom of the second, but Cain limited the damage by stranding a pair in scoring position by inducing an inning-ending grounder back to the mound.

Any momentum that Mountaineers had gained was quickly seized by Cimillo, as the rookie crushed his first career home run to lead off the third inning. Sophomore Matt Padre (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central) followed with a walk and would later come around to score on an error in extending the Jasper advantage to 4-1.

Manhattan pushed its lead out to 5-1 in the top of the fourth as Barrella led off with a single before later coming in to score on a Padre RBI ground out.

After running into trouble in the second, Cain settled down and faced the minimum over the next four frames, including setting the side down in order in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

Appalachian State finally chased Cain in the seventh and would load up the bases, only to be denied by junior RHP T.J. Stuart (Milford, CT / Joseph A. Foran), who quelled the threat with a strikeout.

The Mountaineers would make things interesting in the ninth, plating three runs while placing the tying run just 90 feet from home. Stuart, however, hunkered down and fanned Joel McDaniel for the final out of the game.

Stuart struck out four over his 2.1 innings of work in collecting his first save.

On offense, Barrella, Blake, Cimillo and freshman Keury Abreu (Bronx, NY / St. Raymond) all recorded multiple-hits while combining to go 9-for-18 with four runs and four RBI.

McDaniel notched two of the six Appalachian State hits while RHP Cameron Kepley fell to 0-2, yielding four runs, two earned, on four hits with four strikeouts over 4.0 innings.
 
Game One
Fueled by a nine-run fourth inning, Appalachian State defeated Manhattan 14-5 in the opener.
 
The game was a scoreless duel over the first three frames, before the Jaspers struck for a run in the fourth. Blake and Cimillo led off with back-to-back singles, before Blake would come around to score on the ensuing play.

Unfortunately, the Mountaineers would respond with nine runs while sending 12 batters to the plate in the bottom part of the frame.

After Appalachian State added one more run in the fourth, the Jaspers rallied with three runs while batting around in the fifth.

Blake led off with a walk before Cimillo singled and Padre followed with a RBI single to chase in Blake. Freshman David Moffett (Oneida, NY / Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Senior) reloaded the bases with a single and junior Alex Cerda (Miami, FL / Florida Christian Prep) capped the scoring with a two-run single to plate Cimillo and Padre.

Cerda would conclude his big performance at the plate with a solo home run in the eighth and finished up 2-for-4 with three RBI, while Cimillo added three hits and a run to highlight a 10-hit attack.

Phillip Cole was 3-for-5 with two home runs, three runs and three while McDaniel was 3-for-5 with four RBI and two runs to fuel a 17-hit Mountaineer attack.

LHP Tyler Tuthill (1-1) earned the win, striking out six while yielding four runs, three earned, on eight hits over 6.0 innings.

Manhattan returns to action at George Washington on Friday, March 1 with first pitch tabbed for 2:30 pm.