Fratus goes 5-for-9 with two triples and four RBI's combined in both games

Senior Michael White earned the win in game one for the Skyhawks.

EASTON, Mass. (April 9, 2012) – Stonehill College, ranked fourth overall in the most recent National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Regional Poll, split its Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) inter-divisional doubleheader with American International College (AIC) today at Lou Gorman Field taking game one, 11-7, while falling in the nightcap, 10-6.

Stonehill 11, AIC 7

Senior left-handed pitcher Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) earned the win (2-2) on five innings pitched, seven hits, seven runs (three earned), two walks and five strikeouts. Freshman right-handed reliever Jim Duff (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) notched his second save of the season tossing four shutout innings while giving up five hits, one walk and fanning three batters.

Sophomore Daniel Guerrero (Elizabeth, N.J./St. Mary's) was handed the loss on two-and-one-thirds innings pitched, five hits, seven runs (all earned) and seven walks. Freshman Steve Pino (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) hurled two shutout innings out of the pen yielding four hits while striking out one batter.

Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the second inning, the Skyhawks cut their deficit in half as freshman third baseman Dan Pidgeon (Darien, Conn./Darien) plated Steven Popp (Unionville, Conn./Farmington) from third base with a fielder's choice RBI and White drew a bases loaded walk to highlight the scoring.

Stonehill took the lead in the bottom of the third inning scoring seven runs on six hits and one error.

Freshman catcher Colin Shepard (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) had a two-run single through the right side of the infield and eventually scored on a fielding error, junior centerfielder James DeAlto (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff) deposited a run-producing single to center, junior shortstop Michael Zeiner (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) drove in a run on a single to center and Fratus brought home a pair of runs on a triple to the left center gap to cap the offensive outburst and make it a 9-4 contest.

In the fourth, junior shortstop Chris Amate (Hanover, Mass./Hanover) lifted a three-run homer down the right field line off of White, all unearned, to cut into the deficit at 9-7.

The Skyhawks scratched home a run in the bottom half of the inning on a sacrifice fly to centerfield off Pidgeon's bat and another run in the eighth inning as Popp launched a solo homer to right field.

Stonehill collected 16 hits total in the game as Fratus, Popp, senior left fielder Michael Magnussen (Carver, Mass./Coyle & Cassidy) and Shepard all compiled three hits while Zeiner went 2-for-3 with one run scored and one run driven in.

Freshman Jim Duff earned his second save of the season in game one.

AIC 10, Stonehill 6

Freshman Spencer Prusack (Woodsburgh, N.Y./G.W. Hewlett) picked up his first-career collegiate victory over five innings of work, five hits, four runs (all earned), four walks and five strikeouts. Pino pitched a scoreless sixth inning while junior Chris Goonan (Chicopee, Mass./Chicopee) and senior Tim Bailey (Chicopee, Mass./Chicopee) finished off the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, allowing one hit each and no runs.

Senior Bryan Galligan (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) suffered the loss in three innings pitched, five hits, five runs (all earned), four walks and three strikeouts. Classmate Matt Olsen (Winchester, Mass./Winchester) struck out a game-high eight batters, including five-in-a-row from the fourth and fifth innings, on three innings pitched, three hits, two runs (both earned) and two walks. Senior left-handed pitcher Michael Von Stein (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit, two walks and three punchouts.

AIC posted three runs in the top of the first inning as senior Dennis Duffy (Warwick, R.I./Trinity Christian) roped a RBI single to centerfield, classmate Julian Concepcion (Woodstock Valley, Conn./St. Peter Marian) drove in a run on an infield single and freshman Lucas Vallas (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) notched a sacrifice fly to left field for its 3-0 advantage.

After both teams exchanged one run each in the third inning, the Yellow Jackets plated three more runs in the fourth to push their lead to 7-1. Amate brought home a run with a RBI double the down the left field line and Concepcion laced a two-run single up the middle for AIC.

Stonehill responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on a run-producing groundout from White and a two-run double to left centerfield by Billy Karalis (Pawtucket, R.I./Bishop Feehan).

The Yellow Jackets answered with a run in the sixth inning and a pair of runs in the seventh to break the game open at 10-4. Vallas had a RBI double to centerfield in the sixth and Amate and Kyle McNiff (Westford, Mass./Westford) picked up RBI singles in the seventh.

Fratus made it 10-6 with a two-run tripled to left centerfield, his second triple of the day, but the Skyhawks rally fell short producing just two hits over the last two innings of play.

Amate went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI's, Concepcion was 2-for-2 with one run scored and four runs batted in and Vallas went 3-for-4 with two RBI to lead AIC's offense.

With the split, Stonehill head coach Patrick Boen (Stonehill, '89) is three wins shy of 400 in his career.

Stonehill (21-10, 9-4 NE-10, 4-1 Northeast Division) travels to Bentley University on Wednesday, April 11 for a single NE-10 game scheduled for 3:30 p.m. AIC (10-13-1, 4-7-1 NE-10, 1-2-1 Southwest Division) visits Assumption College for a NE-10 inter-divisional matchup on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.