NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The American International College baseball team dropped a 6-2 Northeast-10 Southwest Division contest at Southern Connecticut State University Friday in the first of three games against the Owls this weekend. Junior left fielder Dan Asselin was 2-for-4 with a triple and scored both Yellow Jacket runs in the loss.

AIC (16-18, 7-14 NE-10, 4-11 S.W. Division) trailed 1-0 after one before tying the game in the top of the second as Asselin led off the inning with a single to left and later scored on sophomore right fielder David Kerlejza's sac-fly to center. The Yellow Jackets didn't score again until top of the eighth when Asselin started the inning with a triple to right center and then scored on a wild pitch.

SCSU (19-16-1, 9-12 NE-10, 5-10 S.W. Division) regained the lead for good in the bottom of the third when senior center fielder Michael Cleary scored on junior shortstop T.K. Kiernan's single down the left field line, and then tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth and seventh innings to open a 6-1 advantage.

AIC had plenty of scoring opportunities in the game, leaving 10 runners on base, six of which were stranded in scoring position. The Yellow Jackets had runners on second and third with one out in the sixth and Kerlejza tripled to left center with two outs in the eighth, but AIC was unable to take advantage of the opportunities.

Cleary went 2-for-3 with two walks and two RBI, while senior first baseman A.J. Rouleau was 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored.

Sophomore Cole Bryant improved to 4-3 after allowing one unearned run on five hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings for Southern Connecticut, while junior Matt Lee fell to 2-5 after allowing four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts in six innings for AIC.

The two teams will close out the weekend series with a pair of games at SCSU Saturday starting at noon.