BOX SCORE WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Andrew Johnson (Branford, Conn./Branford / Wheaton) delivered the game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning to lead the University of New Haven baseball team to a 6-5 win over American International on Monday afternoon at Frank Vieira Field. TJ Riccio (Port Jeff Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) added two RBI in addition to scoring the game-winning tally.
 
With their seventh consecutive victory, the Chargers improve to 15-8 overall and 10-6 in the Northeast-10. After being swept in the three game road series, the Yellow Jackets stand at 11-22 with a 4-17 conference mark.
 
Johnson finished the day at 3-for-6 at the dish. Brendon Buckley (Monroe, Conn./Masuk), who was named the Northeast-10 Player of the Week earlier on Monday, went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. Chris DeMorais (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) hit a pair of doubles from the cleanup spot, and Brendan O'Reilly stole two bags and scored twice. Zach Collett (Westbrook, Maine/Westbrook) and Nick Russo (Shirley, N.Y./William Floyd) each picked up an RBI by way of a sacrifice fly.
 
Joey Royer (Westbrook, Maine/Cheverus) started on the mound and worked the first seven innings. The left-hander scattered 10 hits and one walk that led to four earned runs while striking out four. Fellow southpaw Vincent Aprea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) earned the win in relief. After ceding a home run on the first pitch he threw, the freshman did not allow a hit or walk over the final three innings of action. Aprea (2-0) struck out two batters and hit two.
 
American International starter Matt Lee did not factor into the decision, allowing five runs (two earned) on nine hits and three walks over six innings of action. Jeff Kraucunas was effective in relief but was saddled with the loss, falling to 1-2. The right-hander allowed one unearned run on three hits and two walks while striking out four in 3.2 frames of work.
 
The Yellow Jackets played small-ball to start the scoring in the top of the third inning. After a lead-off hit, two sacrifice bunt attempts turned into hits to load the bases. Dan Fenton then fouled off three straight 0-2 pitches before sending a flare into shallow right to score a pair and stake AIC to a 2-0 lead. Lucas Vallas followed with an RBI single, though a second runner was cut down at the plate on the play to limit the damage at 3-0.
 
The Blue and Gold responded in kind to pull even in the bottom of the fourth. DeMorais led off the frame with a walk, and Buckley then singled, with both runners moving an addition 90 feet on an error. After Collett lifted a sacrifice fly to plate DeMorais, Riccio sent an RBI ground ball to shortstop – reaching safely on another AIC miscue. Kyle Cullen (Dumont, N.J./Dumont) kept the rally going with a double, and Russo pushed across the tying run with a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
 
Both teams added a tally in the fifth inning, starting with Dan Asselin's RBI single for the Yellow Jackets in the top of the frame. In the home half, O'Reilly started the offense with a one-out walk, stole second base and moved to third on a Fenton throwing error on the theft.  He raced home the final 90 feet on a Buckley bunt single to knot the score at 4-4.
 
The Chargers took their first lead of the day in the bottom of the seventh frame. O'Reilly singled to lead off the inning and stole second base. DeMorais got caught chasing strike three in the dirt, but the pitch got away from Fenton, allowing him to reach safely and O'Reilly to claim third base. The wild pitch also chased Lee from the game in favor of Kraucunas. After DeMorais stole second base and Buckley walked, Riccio beat out a potential inning-ending double play ball that allowed O'Reilly to come home with the go-ahead run.
 
The lead was short-lived, however, as Vallas led off the top of the eighth with a solo homer to left field. Aprea rebounded to strike out the side, and he and Kraucunas then traded zeroes in the ninth despite a runner advancing into scoring position in both the top and bottom of the frame.
 
Aprea would also strand a runner in 10th. Vallas was hit by an 0-2 pitch with one out and stole second with two down. However, the Chargers' southpaw induced an inning-ending flyout to maintain the 5-5 deadlock.
 
Riccio started the bottom of the 10th inning with an infield single as the potential winning run. First baseman then made a diving stab to retire Cullen on a sacrifice bunt attempt, but his errant throw attempting to double-up Riccio instead allowed him to claim third base, 90 feet from scoring the winning tally. A two-out walk to Tom Walraven (Pine Bush, N.Y./Pine Bush) kept the inning alive for Johnson, who deposited the first pitch he saw into centerfield for the game-winning hit.
 
The walk-off win the second for the Chargers, who defeated Concordia by a score of 5-4 on Cullen's game-winning single on April 13. New Haven is 2-1 in extra-inning games and 2-2 in contests decided by one run.
 
The Chargers continue their final homestand of 2014 on Wednesday, April 23 with a 3:30 p.m. visit from Pace. The home slate concludes with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Saint Rose on Friday, April 25. New Haven is in the midst of a stretch of 10 games in 11 days, all against NE-10 Southwest Division opponents.