BOX SCORE PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – The University of New Haven baseball erased a 6-0 deficit with seven unanswered runs to surge past Northeast-10 Southwest Division leader Pace, 7-6, on Wednesday afternoon at Finnerty Field in Pleasantville. With the comeback win, the Chargers claim the season series from the Setters, two games to one.
 
New Haven improves to 21-12 on the season and 9-5 in the NE-10 Southwest while Pace falls to 26-12 overall with a 10-4 divisional tally. The Chargers won both of its road games in the three-game series with the Setters, while Pace claimed the meeting at Frank Vieira Field earlier this month.
 
Riccio drove in two runs in the game, including the game-winner, while Chris DeMorais (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) went 2-for-5 with two RBI of his own. Nick Nunziato (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) singled to bring home the tying run in the eighth as a part of a two-hit day. Stephen Clout (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, and Joe Romanelli (Baldwin, N.Y./Holy Trinity) picked up an RBI via a base-loaded hit-by-pitch.
 
Frank Vilacha (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) earned the win out of the bullpen with a scoreless inning of relief to improve to 5-1. Peter Jay (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) got the final six outs to notch his 11th save in 11 opportunities.
 
Pace struck early with two runs in each of the first two innings, and extended the margin to 6-0 with single tallies in both the fifth and sixth frames. Charlie Galasso and James Pjura each knocked in two runs for the Setters.
 
The Chargers began their comeback with five runs in the top of the seventh inning. Andrew Johnson (Branford, Conn./Branford / Wheaton) worked a one-out walk to start up the offense and took second on a Nunziato base-hit. After a pitching change, Zach Collett (Westbrook, Maine/Westbrook) walked and Riccio and Clout delivered back-to-back RBI singles to cut the deficit to 6-2. Brendan O’Reilly followed with a walk to reload the bases that forced another pitching change, and Romanelli was then hit by a pitch to push another run across. The biggest hit in the frame came from DeMorais, who delivered a two-run single as the Chargers batted around en route to trimming the score to 6-5 in favor of the home team.
 
After the centerfielder O’Reilly gunned down a potential insurance run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, New Haven completed the rally in the top of the eighth stanza. Kyle Cullen (Dumont, N.J./Dumont) led off with a single and Johnson reached on an error after dropping down a sacrifice bunt. Nunziato followed with a single to tie the game and Collett was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Following another Setters’ call to the bullpen, Riccio lifted a sacrifice fly into centerfield that allowed Johnson to come home with the go-ahead run.
 
Jay fired a perfect bottom of the eighth inning and induced a game-ending double play to erase a hit batter in the last of the ninth to cap the 7-6 victory. The Chargers’ closer has not allowed an earned run in 20.2 innings of work this spring.
 
John Melville (Ulster Park, N.Y./Kingston) started on the bump for New Haven and allowed four earned runs or nine hits and two walks. The right-hander hit one batter and struck out five. Brian Caselli (Stratford, Conn./Stratford) bridged the gap in the sixth, ceding just an unearned run in his inning of work.
 
The loss went to Edward Byrne (3-2), who got one out while ceding the tying and go-ahead runs. Southpaw Jonathan Chudy started for Pace, allowing two earned runs of four hits and three walks while striking out 10 in 6.1 innings of work.
 
New Haven returns to the diamond tomorrow afternoon, beginning a nine-game homestand with a visit from Post. First pitch of the non-conference action from Frank Vieira Field is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.