Baseball routs Post with offensive explosion

WATERBURY, Connecticut - Four different four-run innings, including each of the first three, helped the American International College baseball team to a 19-7 win over Post University, which is ranked seventh in the East Region, on Wednesday, May 3.

AIC is now 22-20 on the season.

Chad Lavelle started AIC off with a single and quickly stole second. Jackson Haker walked, and Brandon Gaul singled to center to bring Lavelle home. Cameron Fitzgerald then doubled to drive both home, ultimately scoring himself on an errant throw by the catcher later in the inning.

In the second, the Yellow Jackets ran it back. Shea Cuccinotta singled and stole second; Brendan Edvardsen then hit an RBI single and himself stole second. Lavelle repeated the performance a third time for the frame, and Kiernan Caffrey then walked to put two on. Haker drove home Lavelle with a base hit, and Fitzgerald knocked a single to bring home Caffrey.

The Eagles put three of their own up in the bottom of the second, but AIC rebounded. Richie Segura hit a leadoff single and Michael Cruz reached on an error. Edvardsen then doubled to score Segura. Caffrey walked to load the bases for Haker, and he drove in two with a single to left; Gaul then hit an infield single to score another run, making it 12-1.

Edvardsen notched an RBI groundout in the fourth, and then in the sixth the Yellow Jackets notched two more as Cuccinotta reached on an error, was pushed to second on a Cruz walk, and scored on a failed pickoff. Edvardsen then smacked another double to put Cruz home.

After the Eagles again netted three in the bottom of the sixth, AIC turned the heat up. Haker singled and stole second, followed by a Gaul single. Fitzgerald drove in Haker with a hit, and Cuccinotta, Cruz, and Edvardsen each drove in a run, the latter two on base hits. Post added one more unearned in the eighth for the 19-7 final.

Daniel Provost earned the win in four strong frames of relief, allowing three runs on four hits with three strikeouts. Jayden Maynard, Gaul, and Hayden Mutz combined for 3.1 innings of two hit ball, with the unearned run and two strikeouts to put the game away.

AIC now focuses on the final Northeast-10 Conference series, beginning Friday, May 5 at Franklin Pierce University.