GARDEN CITY, N.Y. Senior Karl Kapinos (South Hadley, Mass.) went 2-for-3 with a homer and a pair of runs batted in to help lift American International College past Adelphi University, 10-7, in a key Northeast-10 Southwest Divisional game this afternoon from Bonomo Field.
AIC secured the series win taking two-of-three games this weekend and improves to 8-27 overall and 2-6 in divisional games while the Panthers drop to 17-17 overall and 5-4 in the NE-10 Southwest.
After surrendering four runs in the first inning, the Jackets chipped away to get within a single run after three innings of play. Senior Karl Kapinos (South Hadley, Mass.) lifted a solo-homer to right in the top of the second while junior Chris Starcun (Easthampton, Mass.) produced an RBI single to center before senior Tyler Geffert (Hopedale, Mass.) crossed home on a dropped fly-ball for the 4-3 deficit.
AIC then used a four run fifth to jump out ahead as RBI singles from Kapinos, freshman Josh Aviles (Naugatuck, Conn.) and senior Eddie Ritch (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) compiled with a throwing error led to the 7-4 advantage.
Single runs in the following three innings ballooned the lead to 10-4 as junior K.J. White (Wilbraham, Mass.) belted a run-producing double to left in the sixth, Aviles crossed home on a wild pitch in the seventh and Geffert scored on an RBI groundout by White in the eighth.
Adelphi would not go away quietly as they made some noise in the eighth scoring three times to cut the deficit to 10-7 after three straight hits from Camden Orologio, Michael Stack and Steven Withers.
Ritch then moved from short to pitcher in the final frame and after the first two runners got on the senior got the next three batters in succession to pick up the save securing the victory for the Jackets.
AIC's two-through-five batters combined to go 8-for-18 with five RBI's and six runs scored as Geffert, Starcun and White all joined Kapinos with a pair of hits on the day while Aviles also turned in multiple hits as everyone in the starting line-up had at least one hit for the Jackets.
The hosts outhit the visitors by the slim 15-14 margin, but it was a huge weekend for the Jackets at the dish as they recorded 36 hits over the three games hitting at a .320 clip in the series.
Sophomore Jason Coscio (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) settled in after the rough first inning and tossed 6.1 innings allowing just the four runs on 10 hits with a pair of strikeouts to secure his first victory of the season and move to 1-3 on the year.
AIC continues takes a step back from divisional play as they travel to Post University on Tuesday for their last non-conference game of the season with a 3 p.m. first pitch in Waterbury.
