SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The American International College baseball team dropped the opening game of a three-game set against Pace University, 11-1, in Northeast-10 Southwest Division action this afternoon from Bedard Field.

The loss drops AIC to 11-33 on the year and 5-11 in divisional action while Pace improves to 27-19 on the year and 10-6 in the NE-10 Southwest.

The Setters opened the scoring in the top of the first as Michael Gulino lifted a pitch high over the foul pole in left field before exploding for six runs in the second with the big blow being a three-run line drive homer to left center by Cory Capaldi for the 8-0 lead.

The Jackets loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fifth on three straight singles by senior Eddie Ritch (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.), freshman Travis Seymour (Chicopee, Mass.) and senior Tyler Geffert (Hopedale, Mass.) but Setter starting pitcher Josh Garran induced a line-out to get out of the threat unscathed.

Pace then pushed the lead to double digits in the top of the sixth with four straight two-out singles to score three times before AIC got on the board in the bottom half with an unearned score for the 11-1 margin.

Both bullpens were strong down the stretch as senior Aidan Farrell (Mansfield, Mass.) tossed three scoreless innings without allowing a hit to close out the game.

Sophomore Nick Kennedy (East Longmeadow, Mass.) was dealt the loss after allowing eight runs on six hits over the first two innings of play to fall to 4-5 on the year while Garran improved to 6-3 after tossing the first seven innings for Pace.

The Setters outhit the hosts 11-7 for the game as Ritch and fellow senior Karl Kapinos (South Hadley, Mass.) each turned in a pair of hits on the day for the Yellow Jackets.

Both teams come back tomorrow to close out the series with a noon-time double-header as part of Senior Day for AIC.