WEST HAVEN, Conn. Junior Chris Starcun (Easthampton, Mass.) enjoyed a 4-for-6 day at the dish, but it was not enough as American International College dropped a ten-inning contest to the University of New Haven, 8-7, in Northeast-10 Southwest Divisional action this afternoon from Frank Vieira Field.
AIC falls to 6-13 on the year and 0-1 in divisional play while UNH moves to 6-8 overall and 1-0 in the Southwest Division.
The Chargers opened the scoring quick by plating four runs off five hits in the bottom of the first inning with the big blow being a two-out two-run double from junior Eddie Tammaro (South Hempstead, N.Y.) who later scored on a single to right for the 4-0 edge.
The Jackets came right back in the top of the second with a little two-out magic of their own to cut the deficit in half with back-to-back RBI doubles from junior K.J. White (Wilbraham, Mass.) and sophomore Eugene Quirk (Matawan, N.J.) for the 4-2 score.
AIC then grabbed single runs in the top of the fifth and sixth to pull even. A run-producing single by sophomore Alex LaFayette (Ludlow, Mass.) scored senior Karl Kapinos (South Hadley, Mass.) who reached on a walk two batters earlier in the fifth while Quirk scored on a throwing error in the sixth for the 4-4 game.
Tammaro responded for UNH in the bottom of the seventh with a bases clearing triple to drive in three runs for the 7-4 lead while knocking starting pitcher senior Colin Sledzik (Higganum, Conn.) from the game.
AIC senior Tyler Geffert (Hopedale, Mass.) answered in the eighth with an RBI double and the Jackets came all the way back to tie things in the top of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
Starcun blasted a solo homer to left, his third of the season, and Quirk singld with a runner on and after the left fielder misplayed the ball pinch-runner Josh Aviles () came around to score the tying run making the score 7-7.
New Haven then loaded the bases in the bottom of the tenth with one out and walked-off with a suicide squeeze as AIC was unable to get the runner at the plate for the 8-7 final.
Senior Mike Coyne (El Cajon, Calif.) was dealt the loss after allowing just the single run on three hits over the final 2.2 innings to fall to 0-1 while sophomore Tim Kennedy (Ridge, N.Y.) picked up his first victory of the season after tossing a scoreless tenth inning.
American International held the slim lead in a slugfest, 15-14 as White collected a pair of hits and Quirk went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles joining Starcun with multi-hit performances.
Both teams return to action tomorrow to close out the season series with a double-header beginning at 12:00 p.m.
