COLCHESTER, Vermont - The American International College baseball team clinched a spot in the 2025 Northeast-10 Conference Championship Tournament by sweeping Saint Michael's College 11-4 and 6-2 in an NE10 doubleheader on Monday, April 28.

AIC is now 18-20 with a 12-9 NE10 mark.

Both teams left runners in the early stages of game one, but AIC was able to push the first run across in the third. Yeudy Ramirez smacked a one-out single past the shortstop, and then Josh Frometa came to the plate. The batter-runner duo baited the Purple Knights into a balk, and then Ramirez stole third, allowing Frometa's fly to left to drive him home.

In the fourth, AIC added another; Nick Serce singled, and though he was put out at second on a Brendan Edvardsen grounder, AIC's right fielder beat out the throw to prevent a double play. He then stole second, and scored on Richie Segura's single between short and third. 

That run proved critical, as the Purple Knights tied the game in the home half. A walk, single, and flyout plated the first run, while the second came home on a two-out throwing error. The Purple Knights had second and third at that point, but Hayden Mutz recovered with a strikeout to limit the damage.

AIC rallied in the fifth to retate the lead. Cole Patterson started it with a picture-perfect bunt up the third base line, and Ramirez followed with a single. Frometa walked to load the bases, and Leandro Guevara's deep fly ball advanced Patterson home and Ramirez to third. Once again, the duo, this time both on base, won a battle with the defense; Frometa stole second, and Ramirez took home on the throw. Serce then singled, pushing Frometa to third, where he was able to come home on a Kiernan Caffrey sacrifice fly for a 5-2 lead.

Patterson and Ramirez both singled with one out in the sixth, and the pair accomplished another double steal to move both into scoring position. Frometa hit a deep fly to right to score the former, while Serce doubled to score the latter, giving AIC a 7-2 edge.

In the seventh, the Purple Knights tried to rally, and scored a pair thanks to a walk and three singles, but Anderson Cuello Batista struck out a pair in relief of Mutz to shut down the threat. 

After a scoreless eighth, AIC put the game away in the ninth. Serce was hit by a pitch, and Caffrey followed with a hit. Edvardsen once again grounded out, but was able to beat out a double play, and subsequently swiped second. Both he and Serce scored on Segura's single. Two batters later, Patterson walked, and he and Segura added to AIC's steals total by swiping second and third. Ramirez walked to load the bases, and Frometa bounced a ball over the head of the shortstop to bring Patterson and Segura in. Cuello Batista allowed just an infield single in the ninth as he shut down the game for the 11-4 win.

Mutz went 6.1 innings in the win with five strikeouts against six hits; Cuello Batista grabbed his fifth save with 2.2 scoreless.

Serce was the starting pitcher in game two, and helped his own cause with the bat before throwing a single pitch of his own; after Frometa and Guevara singled and doubled respectively, Serce smashed a home run down the right field line, well beyond the fence, for a 3-0 lead. It was his team-best eighth of the year.

He then went to work on the mound, limiting the Purple Knights to two hits in the first four frames and keeping the ball mostly in the infield, drawing a double play to end that fourth frame.

In the fifth, AIC added two more. Ramirez and Frometa were at the forefront with leadoff singles, and Guevara and Serce both hit grounders that allowed the speedy pair to score. Caffrey then reached on a two-out hit-by-pitch, stole second, and scored on an Edvardsen single to double AIC's lead to six.

Serce continued to dominate the hill, completing the sixth without allowing a run and escaping a first-and-third in the fifth after a fielding error.

In the seventh, the Purple Knights finally scored, taking advantage of a single and two walks by Alex Perez. A second single drove in two, and another walk loaded the bases, but Perez was able to draw a flyout to end the game with the tying run at the dish.

Serce allowed just two hits in six innings for the win, along with five strikeouts, while also driving in four; he went 4-for-8 with five RBI and two runs on the day in total, and had his second scoreless pitching appearance in the last seven days, following his complete-game four-hit shutout of Assumption University on April 22.

The wins ensured that the Yellow Jackets will finish no worse than fourth in the NE10's Southwest Division, and moved them into a tie for the division lead with Southern Connecticut State University at 12-9. AIC will next play a nonleague game with Bentley University on Wednesday, April 30 before closing conference play with a three-game series against the University of New Haven beginning May 2 at 3:30 p.m. at Bedard Field.