Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University baseball team is down, but never out.

The 'Cats came all the way back against a 6-1 deficit Friday to earn a 9-8 come-from-behind win over American International College in the opening game of their three-game weekend series at William J. Bonomo Memorial Field in Garden City.

Even after a couple of astute defensive plays by AIC (7-15, 2-5 NE10) kept the game tied in the eighth, the Panthers (9-11, 2-4 NE10) got another chance in the ninth.

The winning run even stood ninety feet away. An errant pick-off throw sent Albert Ramos -- who singled to lead off the inning -- to third. As AIC moved the infield in to prevent the winning run from scoring, Bryan McCleary found a vacant spot in shallow right field that won it for Adelphi.

Trailing 6-1 midway through the contest, Greyson Pizzonia -- who mired through an 0-for-12 slump -- singled home a pair of runs in the fifth that sparked the Adelphi comeback.

As the Brown and Gold batted around in the bottom of the fifth, Joe Pellegrino drove in Pizzonia with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 6-4.

The Panthers continued to make the most of their opportunities against the AIC bullpen. A pair of walks issued to Jack Wishner and Philip D'Aguanno to open the sixth set the table for the hosts to capture their first lead.

Adelphi strung together three consecutive run-producing plays, capped by Alec Maag's go-ahead single that ended a six-game rut for the Adelphi captain without an RBI.

Meanwhile, Zach Rovner and Coleton Reitan held down the fort on the hill. The two pitchers combined for 6.2 productive innings with two earned runs and no walks. Brendan Kenneally fired two scoreless innings in his return from injury.

Head Coach Bill Ianniciello and his Adelphi squad wrap up their weekend series against AIC with a pair of nine-inning games tomorrow (Mar. 30) at William J. Bonomo Memorial Field in Garden City. First pitch is set for noon.