SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Sophomore Chris Starcun (Easthampton, Mass.) and senior Lucas Vallas (East Northport, N.Y.) powered the Yellow Jacket offense en route to a doubleheader sweep of Saint Michael's College with victories of 3-1 and 11-7 this afternoon at Richard F. Bedard Field.
Starcun combined to go 5-for-6 on the day with one homer a pair of doubles while driving in three runs and scoring five times. Vallas blasted his fourth long ball of the year in game-two as well as going 3-for-6 on the day adding a double and three runs batted in.
AIC improves to 7-18 on the year with the sweep while the Purple Knights fall to 8-19 overall.
The Jackets got on the board first in game-one as freshman Alex LaFayette (Ludlow, Mass.) blasted a two-run homer high over the left field fence for his second long ball of the year making the score 2-0 after two innings.
The score remained that way until the top of the fifth when Purple Knight freshman Peter Bocchino (Saugus, Mass.) doubled to center field to start the frame and crossed home on a 4-6-3 double play for the 2-1 score.
Saint Michael's then tied the contest the following inning when senior Nicky Elderton (Shelburne, Vt.) deposited the first pitch he saw to the left of the 370 sign in right center for the 2-2 score.
Sophomore Chris Starcun (Easthampton, Mass.) answered in the bottom of the sixth for AIC as he roped a home run to straight away center giving the Jackets the 3-2 victory as junior Colin Sledzik (Higganum, Conn.) sat down the side in order in the seventh to pick up his first save of the season.
Sophomore LHP Michael Gentile (Windsor Locks, Conn.) earned the victory to improve to 1-3 on the year after tossing the first six innings allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts.
Freshman Morgan Wilson was dealt the loss after allowing the winning run on just the one hit while walking three and fanning one over 2.1 innings of work.
St. Mikes started the scoring in game two as Elderton ripped a two-out RBI double to right center for the 1-0 advantage.
However, AIC came right back as graduate student Dave Clark (West Springfield, Mass.) laced a run-producing single up the middle to plate junior Tyler Geffert (Hopedale, Mass.) who doubled to left center on the previous pitch for the tie score.
Starcun then followed with a double to right center to score Clark and senior Lucas Vallas (East Northport, N.Y.) lifted his fourth homerun of the season high over the left field fence for the 4-1 lead at the end of the first.
The Purple Knights came right back in the top of the second to score three of their own on a two-run double by senior Michael Dougherty (Albany, N.Y.) and an RBI base-knock by sophomore Drew Salk (Billerica, Mass.) for the 4-4 tie.
AIC responded getting all three runs back in the bottom of the second on an RBI fielder's choice by Geffert, a sacrifice fly from Clark and an RBI two-bagger by Starcun for the 7-4 score.
American international kept the pressure on the visitors by plating a pair in the bottom of the fourth on a balk and an RBI single through the left side by Vallas for the 9-4 lead.
Both squads plated runs in the sixth as Saint Michael's scored on an RBI double to right from Dougherty and AIC got a pair on a bases loaded wild pitch and a bases loaded walk to account for the 11-5 score.
A late rally by the Knights wasn't enough as they plated a pair in the seventh on a RBI triple by Elderton and a run-producing groundout, but senior David Kerlejza (Unionville, Conn.) recorded the final out to close the door on the 11-7 victory.
Sophomore Brian Karp (Bellmore, N.Y.) picked up the victory tossing the middle two frames without allowing a run on one hit to improve to 1-3 on the year.
Freshman Steve Knable (Manalapan, N.J.) took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the year after tossing two thirds of an inning and surrendering three runs on three hits.
Clark finished game-two 2-for-2 at the dish with three runs scored and two RBI's while sophomore K.J. White (Wilbraham, Mass.) also added a pair of base-knocks with an RBI and a run scored in the finale.
AIC outhit the visitors 13-8 in the finale while each team recorded five hits in the opener.
The Jackets return to action with a three game weekend series against Northeast-10 Southwest Division leader Pace as they play a twin-bill on Saturday at Felician College with a 2:00 p.m. start and they finish the series with a single game at New Haven on Sunday at noon.
