RINDGE, New Hampshire - The American International College baseball team went 1-3 at Franklin Pierce University on May 5-7 to close out the 2023 regular season and finish third in the Northeast-10 Conference's Northeast Division.
AIC is 23-23 overall and 13-11 in the NE10.
In Friday's game, the Ravens took an early 3-0 lead before AIC battled back. Kiernan Caffrey hit a solo home run in the fourth, and then in the sixth scored as part of a two-run home run by Jackson Haker. However, Franklin Pierce scored to regain the lead in the seventh, and AIC left the bases loaded in the ninth.
Saturday's opening contest saw both teams score in the first as Haker doubled in Caffrey, but the Ravens struck for two on a Joel Lara home run in the bottom half. AIC then erupted for three in the third, as Brandon Gaul was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Chad Lavelle followed with a two-run double. In the fourth, the Yellow Jackets added three more with one swing from Brendan Edvardsen, who launched a three-run shot, and after the Ravens put two up in the home half to close the gap, Edvardsen answered with a three-run triple in the fifth, scoring himself on a subsequent Josh Frometa single.
The Ravens took the third game of the series, scoring five times in the first to take a lead they would not relinquish; Frometa had given AIC an early advantage with a home run in the first, while Edvardsen homered in the fifth and Lavelle scored on a Tyler Ziemak groundout after leading off the sixth with a triple, but the Ravens scored 10 total to win the contest.
The series finale was also a back-and-forth battle; the Ravens led 3-0 in the fifth when Frometa hit a two-run shot, and the run trade was on. Yeudy Ramirez hit an RBI double in the sixth, and Frometa tied the game in the seventh with a solo shot. The Ravens scored two in their half of the inning, but Frometa smacked his third home run of the game, tying it again. Once more the Ravens untied it with two, and this time they held on; AIC had first and third in the ninth but failed to score, giving the Ravens the game 8-6 and the series 3-1.
The two teams will meet again in the First Round of the Northeast-10 Championship Tournament at Franklin Pierce on Tuesday, May 9.