this is manhattan college

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2009 season review
Powered by one of the top offenses
in MAAC history the 2009 Manhattan
baseball team rolled to their second
straight Regular-Season Championship
and fourth consecutive 30-win season.
Kevin Leighton was honored as MAAC
Coach of the Year after guiding the
Jaspers to a school record 35 wins.
Along the ride Manhattan held the
nation’s longest home winning streak
which reached 21 straight victories at
Van Cortlandt Park.
The Jaspers shattered the MAAC’s
single season record posting a .349
team batting average, which was
the fifth best in NCAA Division I last
year. Junior outfielder Kevin Nieto
helped anchor the offense as he led
the country with 1.57 runs per game,
he scored a MAAC record 72 runs,
and finished with the league’s second
highest batting average (.396). He
was named to the American Baseball
Coaches Association (ABCA) All-
America Third Team.
Junior lefthander Mike Gazzola
was selected the MAAC Pitcher of the
Year, becoming just the third Jasper to
earn this honor. Gazzola, who posted
a 7-1 record with 54 strikeouts, saved
his best performance of the year for
the MAAC Championships when he anthony armenio
delivered his fourth complete game.
mike mccann
2 0 1 0 • M A N H A T T A N C O L L E G E B A S E B A L L
Despite a premature exit from
the MAAC Tournament, Manhattan
enjoyed another successful season
with April proving to be the strongest
month for the Jaspers winning 18
of 21 contests. Manhattan showed
it resiliency several times during the
year by notching comeback victories,
including back-to-back late inning
rallies at Delaware (March 8) and a
nine run come-from-behind triumph at
Army (April 8). Manhattan also picked
up key non-conference wins over
Brigham Young University (Feb. 21)
and local BIG EAST institution Seton
Hall (March 18).
Manhattan cruised through the
conference schedule to outright
win the regular-season title with
an 18-6 league mark. Eight Jaspers
received All-MAAC recognition, a list
highlighted by First Team recipients
Gazzola, Nieto, Mike McCann and
Anthony Armenio. Senior co-captain
Ruben Perez, along with sophomores
Chad Salem, Mark Onorati and Austin
Sheffield were all named to the
Second Team. Junior pitchers Tom
Costigan and Tom Moran represented
Manhattan on the MAAC All-Academic
squad.
Manhattan completely rewrote the
offensive section of its single season
record book. Six Jaspers exceeded the
single season hits mark as McCann led
the way with 85, surpassing former
standout Matt Rizzotti who had 72 hits
in 2005. McCann’s hit parade included
a 21 game streak. Armenio set the
single season doubles mark with 22
and Nieto tied his own single season
record with six triples. McCann and
Armenio blasted 13 long balls apiece
to help set a program record with 61
home runs.
The Jaspers also crushed MAAC
offensive records in runs scored (480),
hits (657), RBI (439) and doubles (130).
On the national scene, the Jaspers high
octane offense ranked in the top-25
for scoring offense (12th – 9.1 runs per
game), doubles (22nd – 2.45 per game)
and slugging percentage (24th - .529).
Manhattan graduated the
winningest class in program history
which featured middle infielders
Perez and Ryan Masters. The tandem
contributed to 135 victories, posted
a 75-25 conference record and
were a dominant 55-13-1 mark at
Van Cortlandt Park over their four
year careers. Perez and Masters
helped Manhattan to its first MAAC
Championship and were a part of
the Jaspers team which advanced to
the 2006 NCAA Regional Finals after
upsetting top-seeded Nebraska.
Perez, an All-MAAC Academic
selection, finished his career third in
program history in doubles (47), and
seventh all-time in both RBI (124) and
home runs (16).