Box Score Box Score

Lantana, Fla. - The Adelphi University baseball team suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to American International College via a walkoff suicide squeeze with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning at the Santaluces Sports Complex on Wednesday. Despite nine innings of superb pitching and a two-run rally in the ninth, the Panthers could not silence the Yellow Jackets in the bottom of the 10th and fell to 6-3 on the year. With the non-conference win, AIC improves to 4-3.

For Adelphi, starting pitcher Michael Carletti cruised through seven innings scattering four hits for no earned runs with three strikeouts in the no decision. Sophomore Matt Abramowitz was lights out in two innings of relief, striking out the side with authority in the ninth, but was saddled with the loss when his runner, inherited by Chris Pabisch, scored the winning run on the daring squeeze play.

At the plate, freshman Vincent Sharkey and sophomore Richard Mejia each knocked two hits, with Sharkey executing a clutch hit-and-run to move the tying run to third in the 10th.

For the Yellow Jackets, Dave Clark and Cam MacDonald tripped two hits each, with MacDonald placing the perfect suicide squeeze that sent AIC into a celebratory dogpile after the dramatic walkoff win. Matt Lee battled through eight shutout innings and 100-plus pitches before allowing two runs in the ninth, and Tim Bailey threw 1.1 innings to pick up the win in relief.

AIC picked up an earned run in the first to take an early lead, but Carletti and Lee went to work for the next seven frames. The dueling hurlers filled the scoreboard with zeroes until the Yellow Jackets tacked on a run in the bottom of the eighth via an RBI-double by Clark.

The Panthers refused to fizzle, however, and tied it up in the ninth with a pair of runs scored on pitches to the backstop. Sharkey and junior Anthony Zarrella each singled and came around to score on wild pitches, putting the Panthers in position to seize the lead in the 10th on a Majia chopper that registered an error and allowed John Campbell to score the go-ahead run.

The lead would not hold up, however, as a walk and back-to-back one-out singles tied the game and put runners at the corners. MacDonald got the call to squeeze and placed the bunt perfectly, bringing the winning run home.

Adelphi returns to action on Friday in its second-to-last contest of the Florida trip when the Panthers face UMass Lowell at 11 a.m. at Santaluces.