Baseball splits doubleheader with Bridgeport

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina - The American International College baseball team split a two-game set with the University of Bridgeport on Saturday, March 2, falling 8-6 and winning 5-1.

AIC is now 3-7 on the season.

In the first game, the Purple Knights looked like they would cruise to victory with three in the third and one in the fourth; they added a run in the sixth and three in the seventh for an 8-0 lead. 

However, the Yellow Jackets refused to lay down. Purple Knights pitching struggled to finish, walking Shea Cucinotta and Ryan Lavelle to start the inning and then plunking Brendan Edvardsen and Josh Frometa to force in a run. Groundouts by Kiernan Caffrey and Jackson Haker pushed two more across before Tyler Ziemak doubled to plate Edvardsen and make it 8-4. Chad Lavelle singled to score Josh Mikulski, who had pinch-run for Ziemak, and Armani Marcano tripled, scoring the younger Lavelle. That put Cucinotta back at the dish as the tying run, but finally the Purple Knights recorded the third out to end the game with the score 8-6.

In game two, AIC pounced first, with Frometa walking and scoring on a Caffrey double. Frometa then busted it open in the fourth, smashing a three-run shot that scored Ryan Lavelle and Marcano. The teams traded longballs in the fifth, with solo shots from Bridgeport's Jeremy Rodrigues and Haker for the final tallies in the 5-1 AIC win.

Vaughn O'Leary was stellar in the nightcap, going the distance and allowing just the one run on two hits with five strikeouts.

The teams close the series on Sunday, March 3 at 9:00 a.m.