SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College baseball team split for the second time with Saint Anselm College on Tuesday, March 24, taking a resumed game 9-4 but then falling 8-3 in the Northeast 10 Conference doubleheader.
AIC is now 10-10 overall and 6-2 in the NE10.
Already ahead 5-3 when Mother Nature intervened, the sunshine was a harbinger of the inning to come for the Yellow Jackets when play resumed in the bottom of the third with the bases loaded for
Cole Patterson. The center fielder smacked a two-run single on a 3-1 pitch to drive in
Sam Tanous and
Wesley Alfonso. Subsequent singles by
Leandro Guevara and
Richie Segura also scored runs for AIC, which took a 9-3 lead.
The Hawks did eke out a run in the seventh on a wild pitch with Jackson Powers at third, but that was the lone blemish on a strong outing by
Romel Roca, who allowed one hit in four innings and grabbed the win.
The second game was less kind to the Yellow Jackets. The Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first and added another run in the second, then pushed two across in the fifth.
Segura and
Yeudy Ramirez put AIC on the board with an RBI single and an RBI groundout to cut the gap to 4-1 and then 4-2 in the sixth and seventh, but the Hawks added two in each of the eighth and the ninth, putting the game out of reach.Â
Wesley Alfonso homered in the final half-inning for the 8-3 final.
AIC's next series, against Southern New Hampshire, has been adjusted due to impending inclement weather; AIC will open the four-game set on Sunday, March 29 in Manchester, New Hampshire at noon and play a doubleheader that day and on Monday, March 30 at 2:00 p.m.
