BRYANT STRIKES FOUR TIMES IN SEVENTH TO TOP AIC BASEBALL
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 13, 2007) -
Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass.) went 4-5 with an
RBI as visiting Bryant University scored four times in the top of
the seventh inning en route to a 6-2 Northeast-10 baseball victory
over American International College Thursday afternoon at AIC
Park. The win, the fifth straight for the Bulldogs, improves
them to 12-9 and 5-0 in NE-10 play, while the Yellow Jackets, who
were playing their home opener, are now 4-6 and 0-3 in the league.
Bryant, which plated single runs in the first and fourth innings, would score four times in the top of the seventh to take a 6-1 lead. Mark Dondero (Medfield, Mass.) led off the inning by reaching on an error and would later score on a single by Campbell. The big blow came when Taylor Ferguson (Charlton, Mass.) came up with the bases loaded and cleared them with a triple down the left field line to make it 6-1.
AIC, which halved Bryant's lead in the fifth after Bryan Turney (Auburn, Mass.) drove in Kyle Paton (Westfield, Mass.), would add another run in the bottom of the ninth when Jason Rustico (Plantsville, Conn.) was hit by a pitch to start the inning and scored when Paton reached on an error. Turney represented the game-tying run as he came to the plate with the bases full and two out, but his grounder to short ended the game.
Bryant starter Luke Cowan (Atlanta, Ga.) went 4.1 innings and allowed three hits before giving way to Eric Polvani (Wallingford, Conn.) who hurled 3.2 innings of hitless baseball for the win. Brett Cooley (Somers, Conn.) scattered nine hits and allowed three earned runs over seven innings before Mike Lavato (Springfield, Mass.) pitched the final two innings for AIC, allowing two hits.
AIC returns to action Saturday when it hosts UMass Lowell for a doubleheader beginning at noon.
Bryant 6, AIC 2
Bryant 1-0-0 1-0-0 4-0-0 6-11-3
AIC 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-1 2-5-5
Battery: AIC - Cooley, Lavato (8) and Jeff Rustico
Bryant - Cowan, Polvani (5), Vuolo (9) and Alexander
W - Polvani (3-0) L - Cooley (0-1)