College Manhattan’s Richie Barrella Starting Season Strong by Christopher Goossens March 29, 2018 Junior infielder Richie Barrella, native of Larchmont, NY, is starting out the 2018 baseball season very well. In his first two seasons, Barrella hit just .251 over 84 games, starting just 70 of them. Manhattan finished 18-34 last year, and never were championship contenders, never mind making a deep run in the playoffs. This year, he might end up as the MAAC Player of the Year and perhaps see himself drafted by an MLB club in June. So far in 2018, the tables have turned. Barrella has helped lead Manhattan to a 12-10 record overall, and a 3-0 record in Metro American Athletic Conference play. Last week, conference play opened up and the 3 wins all came in a series with Saint Peter’s. The Jaspers won the series by a combined margin of 28 runs, as they allowed just 7. The final scores in successive order were 15-5, 2-0, and 18-2. The infield helped lead the charge, stopping any runners attempting to come to the plate. The Jaspers are currently on a 5-game win streak, having just beaten Columbia 8-7 in 10 innings. Barrella has now won MAAC Baseball Player of the Week twice in a row. His first win came after hitting .571, garnering 8 hits in 14 at-bats while scoring 4 runs and swiping 2 bags. This week, he slugged in a similar fashion. With 9 hits in 16 at-bats, he hit .562. Barrella also drove in an astonishing 9 runs, himself scoring an additional 4 and also stealing a pair of bases. In every single game, he was able to successfully reach base. His best performance came in the first game of the week in the slaughter of Saint Peter’s (the final score was 15-5), where he went 3-4 with a triple, a run scored, and 4 RBIs. At this point it is clear to everybody that Barrella is a threat. He’s proven his ability to play the game, and pitchers are now looking out for him. On the season, he is now hitting .360 in 22 games, with 31 hits in 86 at-bats. His 31 hits is tied for most in the MAAC, and his average is the 4th highest (but consider that he has at least 16 more at-bats than the ones ahead of him). Barrella is even in 3rd for most runs batted in, with 19. Manhattan has taken over the stat sheet and standings, and are looking to be completely dominant for the rest of the season. The Jaspers lead the conference in team average, at the .274 mark. They are also 2nd in fielding percentage (.966), and 3rd on the mound in ERA (5.58). It will not be a shocker to anyone if the Jaspers finish first or second in the conference, with Barrella at the head of it all. He’s got a legitimate chance at winning the conference’s top award, and a chance to be playing professional baseball soon too. Their offensive game is phenomenal, their defense follows the same manner, and their mound presence is completely dominant. This season seems to be a turnaround one, and in the end, Manhattan might be the ones winning the MAAC title and further battling for a NCAA championship. Post Views: 1,501 The following two tabs change content below.BioLatest Posts Christopher Goossens Latest posts by Christopher Goossens (see all) Northern Division Comes Up Short In NECBL All-Star Game - July 30, 2018 Yard Goats’ Lambert Named Eastern League Player of the Month - July 12, 2018 Eastern League All-Star Game To Feature Six Yard Goats - June 30, 2018 Dunkin’ Donuts Park Repeats as Double-A Ballpark of the Year - June 21, 2018 Related TopicsBaseballMAACManhattan JaspersNCAARichie Barrella Click to comment You must be logged in to post a comment Login Leave a Reply Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment. Newsletter Subscription Can't Miss Posts! Women in Sports: NHL Network Host, Jackie Redmond by Nicholas Durst | posted on March 4, 2019 Women in Sports: Podcast Host, New York Riptide Sideline Reporter, Dani Wexelman by Luke Porco | posted on March 3, 2020 From Paramus High School to CBS Sports, Spero Dedes is making waves in sports broadcasting by Sunil Sunder Raj | posted on October 27, 2020 Lochte, Dressel and Ledecky all Chasing Gold at 2021 Tokyo Olympics by Anthony Paradiso | posted on April 18, 2021 “Overtime” l Ep. 28: TopSpin Celeb-Athlete Tournament – Dec. 6, 2018 by Stefany Romero | posted on December 19, 2018 More in College You Know I’m Right, Episode 107: New York Post’s Columnist Mike Vaccaro (Audio/Video) On the 107th episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by... Master P’s Son, Hercy, Commits to Tennessee State Master P’s son, Hercy Miller, is committing to Tennessee State to play basketball. While... EA Sports Plans to Revive College Football Video Game EA Sports announced that they plan on making college football video games again. The... UVM Women’s Basketball Team Quits 2020-2021 Season The University of Vermont (UVM) women’s basketball will be ending their 2020-2021 season early... Penn State, Utah advance to NIT Title Game Final Four preview; Loyola-Chicago is on a mission from God