Box Score
Springfield, Mass. – The Adelphi University baseball team suffered an 11-1 setback at American International College in Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division action on Sunday. The Panthers slip to 18-19-1 overall and 7-6 in division play while the Yellow Jackets improve to 15-16 on the season and 3-9 in the Southwest.
The hosts knocked 18 hits in the contest, which would be more than enough offensive support for starting pitcher Derek Azzopardi, who threw eight innings of one-run baseball and gave up eight hits while striking out five and walking none. Seven Yellow Jackets cracked multiple hits in the game, led by Dave Clark's 4-5 performance out of the leadoff spot. Dan Asselin batted 3-5 with two doubles and four RBI, and Lucas Vallas and Zach Kane each finished 2-4 with a double.
For Adelphi,
Nick Zito,
Anthony Zarrella and
Donato Signore each went 2-4 with Signore driving in the Panthers' only run on a base hit in the sixth. On the mound, starter
Jimmy Milani took the loss after allowing three earned runs in four frames while collecting a career-high seven strikeouts.
John Donnelly was the lone Adelphi hurler to complete a frame without giving up a run as the junior tossed a scoreless eighth with a pair of K's.
AIC struck in the first inning for the second time in as many games, posting three runs on three hits and taking advantage of a pair of Adelphi fielding errors. Neither team would threaten again at the plate until the Yellow Jackets picked up three more runs in the fifth. A single and two doubles to start the frame plated one run, and a pair of wild pitches brought in the second and third runs of the inning to put AIC up 6-0.
The Panthers strung together a trio of two-out hits in the sixth to crack the scoreboard. Zito and Zarrella knocked back-to-back base hits back up the box and Signore brought Zito in with a single to right. AIC answered back in the home half, however, as Asselin smoked his second double of the game to score two runs and make it an 8-1 game. The hosts carried the momentum into the seventh and opened things up with three more runs on four hits and an infield miscue. Zito would rip a base hit in the eighth, but that would prove the only hit the rest of the way for the Panthers as they surrendered by a final score of 11-1.
Adelphi returns to William J. Bonomo Memorial Field on Wednesday for an NE-10 Southwest contest against Southern Connecticut State University at 3:30 p.m.
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