Box Score - Game 1,
Box Score - Game 2
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The American International College baseball team pulled out a dramatic 3-2 victory over in the second game of a Northeast-10 doubleheader against Franklin Pierce University Sunday afternoon at AIC Park after falling in the first game 9-0.
The Yellow Jackets are now 6-9 overall and 1-3 in the Northeast-10, while the Ravens record moved to 12-9 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
Sophomore first baseman Zach Mathieu (Derry, N.H.) gave Franklin Piece a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in game-two with a RBI-double to left center that scored graduate center fielder James Roche (Arlington, Mass.) from first. Freshman third baseman
Lucas Vallas (East Northport, N.Y.) answered with an RBI-single to left in the bottom of the fifth that scored sophomore designated hitter
Dave Clark (West Springfield, Mass.) to tie the game at 1-1.
The two teams exchanged runs in the seventh inning with Mathieu scoring on a sacrifice fly and Vallas driving in senior right fielder
Kyle McNiff (Westford, Mass.) from second with a single to left to make it 2-2, and the score remained that way until the bottom of the 13th when Vallas singled up the middle to score senior second baseman
Nicholas Devine (Springfield, Mass.) with the game winning run.
Sophomore center fielder
Dan Asselin (Bennington, Vt.) started the 13th with a double to left center and Devine followed with a single to left before McNiff was intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs. Assein was then tagged out by freshman catcher Matt Walsh (Plymouth, Mass.) on a failed suicide squeeze and Clarke was intentionally walked to reload the bases.
Freshman Travis Landry (Loudon, N.H.), who inherited the bases loaded with no outs in relief of senior T.J. Ferguson (Westmoreland, N.H.), then struck out senior first baseman Julien Concepcion (Woodstock Valley, Conn.) for the second out before Vallas drove a 1-2 pitch sharply up the middle that was knocked down by a diving senior second baseman Dan Hennigan (Downingtown, Pa.), but he was unable to get a throw off before Clark dove into second, allowing Devine to score the game-winning run.
Senior
Tim Bailey (Chicopee, Mass.) earned the decision to improve to 2-1 after scattering three hits over four innings of relief. Freshman
Spencer Prusack (Woodsburgh, N.Y.) had a no-decision after allowing two runs in five hits in seven solid innings of work, while senior
Geoff McCowat (Sterling, Va.) allowed one hit in two scoreless innings of relief.
Ferguson took the loss after going one and two thirds of an inning, allowing one run on two hits with four walks to fall to 0-1 on the year. Sophomore Kevin McGowan (Nashua, N.H.) had a solid start for the Ravens, allowing two runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts in six and two-thirds.
Game-one was a much different story. Franklin Pierce plated four runs in the top of the third on RBI-singles from freshman R.J. Going (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and junior shortstop Dan Kemp (Sturbridge, Mass.) and a two-run blast from Mathieu and never looked back.
That proved to be all the offense the Ravens would need as graduate Jack Crawford (Montgomery, N.Y.) tossed a three-hit complete game shutout with 10 strikeouts to even his record at 2-2. The Ravens added runs in the sixth and seventh before tacking on three in the eighth for the 9-0 final.
Mathieu went 3-for-5 in the game with two homeruns, three RBI and two runs scored, while Going went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one driven in. Hennigan was also 2-for-4 at the plate with one run scored, one RBI and two stolen bases from the leadoff spot.
Junior
Chris Goonan (Chicopee, Mass.) fell to 1-1 on the hill for AIC after giving up five runs (two earned) in five and two-third innings.
AIC will next travel to Le Moyne Wednesday for a 3:30 p.m. Northeast-10 Southwest Division contest.
