SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Sophomore Robert Kelly (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) hit a pair of home runs as the Saint Anselm College baseball team split a doubleheader with American International College on Saturday at AIC Park. Saint Anselm dropped their fourth straight with a 10-7 loss in game one, before battling back with a 6-3 non-conference victory in game two.
The Hawks move their record to 9-10 on the season, including 0-3 in the Northeast-10, while the Yellow Jackets go to 8-10 overall and 2-1 in the conference.
Saint Anselm jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first of game one after Kelly doubled to right to score freshman Tito Lluberes (Lawrence, Mass.) and later scored on an error. AIC came back with five runs in the bottom half, however, chasing starter James Farrington (West Milford, N.J.), who lasted 0.1 innings and gave up five runs on one hit and four walks.
Saint Anselm cut the deficit to one in the third after a two-run triple to right-center by junior Daniel DeCoste (Chelmsford, Mass.). AIC once again answered in the bottom half of the inning, however, scoring three to open up an 8-4 advantage.
The visitors cut their deficit in half with two in the fourth, highlighted by a Lluberes RBI single to right. AIC scored one in the sixth to make it 9-6, before Kelly homered to right with one out in the seventh to slice it back to two. The Yellow Jackets added an insurance run in the eighth for a three-run cushion.
Saint Anselm threatened in the ninth, loading the bases with one out on a pair of walks and a hit batsmen, but a 4-6-3 double play allowed AIC to slither out of the jam and record the victory.
Kelly went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and two runs, while DeCoste went 2-for-5 with two RBI. Lluberes was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
Senior Kyle Lavin (Shelton, Conn.) worked 5.2 innings, giving up four runs - three earned - on 10 hits, while junior Joe Latino (Holden, Mass.) pitched the final two innings, relinquishing one run on three hits.
Saint Anselm again jumped out to an early lead in game two, scoring three in the top of the first. Senior Matt Sucharewicz (Peabody, Mass.) and DeCoste each drove in runs on sacrifice flies, before Kelly came across on a wild pitch.
AIC got one back in the second, but single runs in the fifth and sixth, including a lead-off homer for Kelly in the fifth, made it 5-1. The Yellow Jackets put another on the board in the bottom of the sixth to cut their deficit to three.
The Hawks padded their lead with a run in the ninth after Lluberes doubled and then scored on a Sucharewicz single to right-center. AIC scored one in the bottom of the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but junior Neil Hesek (Northboro, Mass.) induced a fly ball to left to end the game.
Junior Sean Hayden (Haverhill, Mass.) tossed eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits to improve to 3-0 on the season and lower his ERA to 2.42. He struck out six and walked just one. Hesek worked the one inning, allowing one run on two hits. He walked one and struck out one.
Kelly was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and the RBI, while Sucharewicz was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Lluberes went 1-for-3 and again scored a pair of runs.
Saint Anselm returns to action Saturday, April 2 (12/3 p.m.) for a doubleheader at the University of New Haven.
