SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College baseball team swung its way to victory in a two-game Northeast-10 Conference sweep of Saint Anselm College at Richard F. Bedard Field on Saturday, March 22, tagging the Hawks for 34 combined runs in wins of 23-9 and 11-8.

AIC is now 7-7 on the season and 2-0 in the NE10.

The Yellow Jackets wasted no time in putting runs on the board, with Brendan Edvardsen getting hit by a pitch and Sam Tanous singling to put men at the corners. In the next at-bat, Tanous took off for second, and the throw wound up in center field, allowing Edvardsen to scamper home; the error was rendered moot when Nick Serce stroked a double off the wall to make it 2-0.

The Edvardsen-Tanous duo added another run in the second, as the right fielder was hit by a pitch and swiped second, taking third as once again the throw sailed. He came home when Tanous hit a flare to right center.

Serce led off the third with a triple to center field, and AIC loaded the bases on a hit batter and a walk. With two outs, Cole Patterson hit a bouncer to second, but it was mishandled, and AIC scored twice, adding two more unearned as Edvardsen followed with a double for a 7-0 lead. 

Leandro Guevara led off the fourth with a bang, clapping a solo shot to left; three batters later, after Josh Frometa walked, Yeudy Ramirez got all of one, launching his first career home run over the left field fence as well, giving AIC a 10-0 advantage.

The Hawks finally put two on the board in the fifth, but AIC answered that statement with a manifesto, blasting 11 runs on the Hawks. Josh Frometa started it off with a two-run double with the bases loaded, and after Kiernan Caffrey reloaded them with a walk, Aidan Streeter made his first collegiate home run count for four, crushing a grand slam to left center. Four batters later, the once again reloaded bases were unloaded again, as Guevara smashed his second longball of the afternoon. The Hawks made a pitching change, and AIC kept rolling, as Serce clubbed a shot to right center to cap the scoring and put AIC up 21-2.

The Hawks scratched their way back into the game with four in the sixth and three in the seventh, but Frometa and Caffrey each had RBI hits in the home half of the seventh to erase any doubts. 

In game two, the visitors jumped out to a big lead early, striking for three in the first and two more in the second, leading 5-0 in the seven-inning contest. AIC did score two in the bottom half without the benefit of a hit, as a combination of walks and hit batters put five men on base.

The Hawks led off the third with a solo shot, but Ramirez answered in the bottom half, belting a towering two-run shot to left to bring AIC within a 6-5 margin.

Romel Roca worked in and out of jams several times in the middle frames, including shutting down a second-and-third, no out threat by the Hawks. 

In the fourth, Guevara singled home Patterson, who led the frame off with a walk. Two batters later, Frometa came to the dish and connected, sending a three-run home run over the right-center fence to give the Yellow Jackets an 8-6 lead. 

Two innings later, the Hawks drove in a run and put a runner on second, threatening to tie the game. Anderson Cuello Batista came in and drew a flyout before striking out the next batter to end the threat. AIC then put the game out of reach, with back-to-back walks, and Tanous scored as he stole third and drew yet another bad throw that sailed into left. Frometa then doubled to score Guevara, and Caffrey singled to bring Frometa in. The Hawks did score one in the seventh, for the 11-8 final.

Vaughn O'Leary threw over 120 pitches in a 5.2 inning win in the first game, backed up by 3.1 frames from Greg Sherokow, who earned the save. Roca's four frames of relief in the second game earned him the second-game win, with Cuello Batista picking up the save in 1.2 innings of work. 

The Yellow Jackets get right back to it on Sunday, March 23 with a twinbill starting at noon against Southern New Hampshire University at Bedard Field.