Baseball Falls at Merrimack in Five Innings 7-1
North Andover, Mass. - The American International College baseball team dropped a 7-1 Northeast-10 contest at Merrimack Friday afternoon in a game that only lasted five innings due to inclement weather. The Warriors improved to 18-25 on the season and 13-15 in conference play, while the Yellow Jackets fell to 10-29 overall and 8-20 in league action. Senior Jeff Rustico (Southington, Conn,) was 1 for 2 with an RBI for AIC.
The Yellow Jackets led 1-0 after the top of the first inning as junior Dan Fey (Plymouth, Mass.) led off the game with a single to second base and later scored on a single to left field off the bat of Rustico.
Merrimack answered by scoring seven unearned runs to take a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when the game was called due to heavy rain. The Warriors took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Junior Mike Savastano (Salem, N.H.) scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Ryan Shepard (Andover, Mass.) and sophomore Brendan Pyburn (Peabody, Mass.) scored on junior Mike Andre's (Medford, Mass.) double to right field
Senior Josh Sohn (West Simsbury, Conn.) earned to win on the hill after allowing one run on five hits with two strikeouts in five innings for Merrimack, while graduate student Terry Loh (Milford, Conn.) took the loss for AIC after allowing five runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings.
Savastano finished 2 for 3 at the plate for Merrimack with two RBIs and two runs scored and Shepard was 1 for 3 with two RBIs. Andre was 3 for 3 with and RBI and a run scored and junior Bob McCarthy (Chelmsford, Mass.) went 3 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.
AIC will close out the 2008 campaign Sunday with a Northeast-10
doubleheader at Pace starting at noon.