The 2017-18 Yellow Jacket Top 10 continues with our No. 4 story — on how the American International College baseball team put up highlight-reel wins, focused on all 27 outs and created a culture change that helped set a foundation for years to come.
Some quotations have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Before the season began, sophomore Matt Costanza made it a point that the American International College baseball team was not a power team – it played a lot of small ball, and any offense from the Yellow Jackets would come via singles, doubles and smart baserunning.
He was right. The Yellow Jackets had just six home runs in 2018, tied for second-fewest in the Northeast-10 Conference. When AIC hit homers, they were certainly memorable — a season-opening blast, an upset of a nationally ranked team, a walkoff victory. But all 19 wins required piecing together the “little things” throughout all 27 outs, grinding through back-and-forth games, adjusting to injuries and quickly recovering from gut-wrenching losses.
As a result, AIC put up one of its most memorable and successful seasons in recent program history — in the win column, in upsets of nationally ranked opponents and in a mentality shift among the team.
EARLY EXCITEMENT
Head coach Nick Callini didn’t put too much stock into AIC’s season-opening sweep of Saint Michael’s College on February 28. “Being 2-0 really hasn't earned or gotten you anything,” he said. Still, that pair of wins was encouraging; redshirt junior left fielder Reed Phillips, who took 2017 off after shoulder surgery, went 6-for-6 in his first day back, posting six RBI, a double, two triples and home run.
“It helped us make a statement that everything that we worked for all fall and winter had paid off,” Phillips said.
Several players made promising AIC debuts that day, including starting pitcher Joe Kemlage, catcher Anthony Clark, second baseman Angel Mendez and designated hitter Will Johnson. Redshirt junior Nick Kennedy, who also missed 2017 for surgery recovery, pitched two clean innings.
A trip to Florida ironed out more details — including placing redshirt sophomore Joe Pepe in the starting rotation. Pepe began the previous season as the team’s shortstop; he transitioned into the team’s closer later in the year, and AIC anticipated him in a similar role in 2018. But AIC realized early that Pepe’s value was too high to keep him out of the rotation. Pepe went out on March 16 against the New York Institute of Technology and threw seven innings, allowing no earned runs.
“It gave me confidence that I could compete as a starter,” Pepe said. “It also gave me the confidence that my arm was built to go far into a game.”
AIC returned from Florida with a winning record at 7-6, and continued the winning theme back in the Northeast, with a 16-2 blowout of Assumption College on March 19 — the largest margin of victory in any game for the Yellow Jackets since 2001.
The Yellow Jackets opened divisional play on March 28 with a 6-4 win against Saint Rose, thanks to a complete-game effort from Kennedy. It also gave AIC a 1-0 divisional record entering one of the toughest weekends of the year, a three-game road series against national No. 6 University of New Haven.
CHARGED UP(SET)
By March 30, nobody had recorded an earned run against New Haven starting pitcher David Palmer, and it was clear to the Yellow Jackets early exactly why.
“Right after my first at bat against Palmer, I knew it was going to be a grind for us,” Costanza, who was also pitted against Palmer as the starting pitcher, said. “He was not going easy on us, and he wasn’t going to let up a bunch of runs.”
However, Krause had a first-inning single; freshman catcher Anthony Clark later stepped up to bat and hit a two-out home run to right field, giving AIC a 2-0 lead in the first inning and breaking Palmer’s streak.
“I was looking for a fastball early, and I got it, so I just took a good swing,” Clark said following the game.
“After Clark’s home run, we needed to hold them right where they were, and that’s exactly what we did,” Costanza said.
In the eighth, with Costanza still on the mound, New Haven had runners on second and third with just one out; a shallow fly ball from Dylon Grzenda threatened the shutout, but junior center fielder Josh Aviles had other plans.
“Costanza got ahead in the count, and the batter happened to be pulling balls foul, so I knew an off-speed pitch would be coming from Matt on the outside of the plate and the player would try to pull it most likely,” Aviles said. “Knowing that, I shallowed up in center, and moved about four steps toward left field. Off the bat, I knew it was catchable, but far away. I got a great jump on the ball, and attacked it aggressively so if I didn’t catch it, I would hopefully keep the Chargers to one run rather than two.
“As I approached the ball, I knew it was going to be close and didn’t want to dive and miss, which would guarantee the Chargers two runs. But I was confident I was going to catch it, so I just dove and saw it into my glove. I heard Reed screaming ‘two,’ so I got up as fast as I could and threw it to Angel for the double play.”
“After that play, we had all the momentum, and were 100 percent confident we were winning this huge game,” Aviles said.
In the bottom of the ninth, Costanza notched a pair of flyouts and a swinging strikeout to secure the final three outs, the shutout and the 2-0 win — and a big upset of the nation’s No. 6 team.
“My plan on the mound was to throw my best stuff at them and see what they could do with it, and thanks to the guys behind me, New Haven didn’t do much,” Costanza said.
“Our defense ultimately won that game…We came in that day expecting to win, and nothing less.”
Costanza finished the game with six strikeouts, one walk and six hits, and was named the NE10 Pitcher of the Week and the NCBWA East Region Pitcher of the Week. Aviles would also receive national recognition for the impressive catch and double play.
EARLY APRIL WOES
An April 5 game against eventual NE10 champion Merrimack College proved to be more than just AIC’s third straight loss. In the sixth inning, Costanza was removed from the mound with elbow pain.
“I’ve never had an arm injury other than general soreness, so when I felt something go in my elbow, I knew it wasn’t good,” Costanza recalled. “I expected the worst.”
Luckily for the Yellow Jackets, Costanza was able to take batting practice two days later, and remained in the lineup for the rest of the year as the designated hitter. It did, however, take a key component out of AIC’s rotation and off the field.
“That really just started the onslaught of injuries,” Callini noted.
From there, AIC lost its fourth and fifth straight games at Franklin Pierce University. During that doubleheader, Ciacciarelli took a fastball off his hand, and missed the next two games against Southern New Hampshire University.
AIC emerged victorious over an eventual NCAA Tournament team in SNHU, 4-3, to snap the losing streak, with another gem of a start from Pepe and a clean closing effort from sophomore James Flahive.
In the next game, however, after AIC jumped out to a 2-1 lead over the Penmen in the fifth, things began to unravel. Clark, who had been reliable behind the plate all year, exited the game with a shoulder injury. Junior relief pitcher Andrew Gould, a trustworthy veteran in the bullpen, later left the game with a season-ending arm injury. AIC would eventually lose that game, too, 9-4.
THE RISE OF COSCIO
Regardless, the team stayed positive entering a road divisional game at Saint Rose on April 11.
“We knew we had important guys injured, but also knew we still had the ability to win games,” Costanza said. “No one felt sorry for us, and we weren't going to either.”
“This team never got down at any point during the season, whether it was when injuries crept in or when we just flat out started losing games,” Ciacciarelli said.
Kemlage pitched a tremendous scoreless six innings. AIC, again, was doing the little things — pitching well and playing clean defensively. But Saint Rose’s Greg Musk proved impressive, too — allowing just three hits over eight scoreless innings.
Redshirt senior pitcher Jason Coscio entered the seventh with the game at 0-0, and allowed just two hits over 2.2 innings. In the ninth, Matt McKinnon was hit by a pitch, and subsequently stole second with one out. A stellar diving catch from Mendez kept McKinnon at third and got the second out. But then came Brian Uliana, who already had two hits that day, catching the attention of Carter.
Carter shaded toward the 5-6 hole, because he knew that Uliana would beat the throw if he played normal depth. A slow roller from Uliana found its way to Carter, who made a play and made a difficult sidearm throw on the run.
Uliana was called safe — “He beat it by very little, according to the ump,” Carter said — scoring McKinnon and giving the Golden Knights a 1-0 walkoff win.
“Anger was my immediate emotion because I felt the umpire had made the wrong call, but more than I was angry, I was disappointed,” Coscio said. “The disappointment set in within minutes after the game ended. I felt that, in that moment, I had let my team down.”
The bad luck kept coming in a home series against Pace University. In a Friday, April 13 contest, Kennedy was pulled in the third due to an arm injury. The Yellow Jackets went on to lose 9-3. In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Pepe was also pulled in the third with a sore arm. AIC lost that game, 9-0.
“It's tough to win a series like that,” Callini said, “having to go into your bullpen in the third inning of your first two games with two of your top guys on the mound.
“But that's where Jason came into play all of a sudden.”
Coscio earned the start in Game Three, and went the distance. AIC won that game 4-1 — Pace’s run was unearned — as Coscio allowed just five hits and gave an exhausted bullpen a rest.
“A huge weight was lifted,” Coscio said. “Nobody had talked about it before the game, but if we had gotten swept, our playoff chances would’ve dwindled to almost zero…That moment was definitely a turning point in the season for us, because before that win, we were all but knocked out of playoff contention. That win kept us in all the way until the very end.”
“That’s the kind of thing that captains do,” Callini said. “When you're down and you really need something, they're the ones that tend to stand up and do something special — and he did.”
WALKING IT OFF
With a 1-2 showing at Adelphi University, AIC needed a winning weekend to remain in the playoff picture. Hosting Southern Connecticut State University during the final home weekend, things did not start off as hoped — instead, Game One on April 28 ended in a lopsided 13-2 loss.
Kemlage, once again, had a spectacular Game Two start — going 8.1 innings and allowing just three hits. However, he exited the game trailing 1-0, leaving Coscio to pitch the next two outs. Coscio capped the top of the ninth with a swinging strikeout, bringing up AIC’s top two hitters next in Costanza and Krause.
Costanza had a leadoff single. Krause was set to bunt and sacrifice Costanza over to second, but got ahead in the count, 3-0; AIC put the 3-1 hit-and-run on, and Krause swung for the fences.
That swing gave AIC a 2-1 win. It was Krause’s first home run of the year.
On Sunday, less than 24 hours after earning a win, Coscio started on his Senior Day. The Owls got out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth, but AIC cut that deficit to 2-1 by the sixth inning. In the eighth inning, Ciacciarelli had an RBI single and Johnson had a sacrifice bunt to swing the score to 3-2 in AIC’s favor.
With Coscio still on the mound and AIC needing three more outs in the ninth, a misplayed ball in right field allowed the Owls to put a runner on second. They tied the game at 3-3, but Coscio held off any further rally.
In the bottom of the ninth, Carter had a one-out single, followed by a single from Aviles to put runners on the corners. The Owls then opted to walk Costanza, AIC’s best hitter, to load up the bases and take their chances again with Krause.
Krause made them pay, ripping a single to left field and score Carter. AIC had its second win in a row; Krause was the hero two days in a row. Coscio had also earned his second win in less than 24 hours.
“We had a lot of fun — winning is always great,” Carter said. “But being in such a tight playoff race made those big moments that much better.”
“Those back-to-back walkoff wins felt absolutely amazing,” Krause said. “For the first time, I was able to walk up to the plate and have the confidence in myself to get the job done and help our team win some ball games.”
The weekend also kept up the tradition of postgame antics from the joy-filled Yellow Jackets. They were still in the playoff picture — but it would require another winning weekend on the road against No. 15 Le Moyne College that following Friday and Saturday.
BACKS AGAINST THE WALL
When AIC returned to the bus following an 11-0 loss to Le Moyne on May 4, drenched to the bone, Callini remarked to the driver: It was a fitting ending to the day, wasn’t it?
When it rained, it poured. The four-hour drive to Syracuse, New York, was prolonged by bus mechanical issues. Though Le Moyne was cooperative in adjusting the start time, AIC still “just didn’t play well,” in the words of Callini. The Dolphins put up five home runs, while the Yellow Jackets’ offense could muster just five total hits.
And then, without much warning, came heavy rain, then hail, then a mad dash for shelter once the game was called in the eighth inning. Not only were the Yellow Jackets pressed back in the dugout to avoid being pelted by rain and ice, their backs were also against the wall entering the final day of the regular season. Essentially, AIC would need to sweep the Dolphins on Saturday to make the postseason.
“You have that same feeling of, how are we going to bounce back?” Callini said.
“Every time I wondered…they showed me that they had a lot of guts and were ready to go.”
It started, again, with Pepe.
Pepe went a full nine innings, only letting the Dolphins score once. LaVallee and Phillips each had two RBI in the game, including a ninth-inning solo homer from Phillips to give AIC a four-run cushion in the 5-1 victory — another defeat of a ranked opponent, and a win that kept AIC alive.
Even finding themselves trailing 3-0 in the second game of the doubleheader — and with their captain, Coscio, on the mound in relief — the Yellow Jackets didn’t back down, beginning to chip away in the eighth. Aviles and Costanza had each had an RBI to cut the deficit to 3-2; but Le Moyne tacked on an unearned run in the bottom of the inning.
Coscio left the mound for what would be the final time after securing a pop-up to end the inning.
“Many of the guys came up to me right away, and gave me hugs and said some nice words, but in the moment we still had another half-inning to play before anything was final,” Coscio said. “I just tried to remain focused on the game.”
The next three Yellow Jackets up couldn’t get on base, and AIC lost 4-2. AIC finished with a record of 10-16 in conference play and 8-10 in the Southwest Division. That mark would put them in a tie for fourth place— with the top four teams in each division making the postseason — but Pace, having won two of three games against the Yellow Jackets three weeks prior, took the tiebreaker and final spot.
AWARD-WORTHY
Sophomore utilityman Matt Costanza was a star in all aspects of the game for the Yellow Jackets, leading the team in ERA (2.97), batting average (.329), RBI (26) and doubles (10).
He racked up plenty of postseason honors, including NCBWA All-East Region First Team, D2CCA All-East Region First Team and NE10 All-Conference First Team for the utility-pitcher position.
He was additionally named AIC’s Second Year Student Athlete of the Year.
Named to the NE10 All-Rookie Team, freshman lefty Joe Kemlage became the first AIC pitcher in a decade to record 50 or more strikeouts.
He finished the season with a 3-3 record and a 3.79 ERA in 57 innings pitched.
Arguably his best start of the year came in a no-decision against Southern Connecticut on April 28, when he went 8.1 innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run.
Sophomore right fielder Matt Krause followed up an impressive rookie campaign with a stellar sophomore year, ranking second on the team in batting average (.317), RBI (25) and doubles (eight).
He earned AIC’s Lt. Alvin J. Carocari Award, presented to the athletes showing impressive contributions to intercollegiate athletics at AIC.
Few have had as significant of an impact on the AIC baseball program as redshirt senior Jason Coscio. Coscio, a six-year member of the Yellow Jackets and a two-year captain of the baseball team, battled through injury and adversity during his first two seasons, eventually becoming one of the team's most trusted pitchers.
In his redshirt senior season in 2018, he had his most productive season yet, leading the team in innings pitched (60.1) and posting four wins, two complete games and two saves. He also had the best conference earned-run average on the team (2.64).
For his contributions, Coscio was named AIC’s Yellow Jacket of the Year; he was additionally a finalist for the NE10’s Man of the Year.
Coscio was recruited to AIC as an outfielder, and an injury during his freshman year caused him to go legally blind in his right eye. Unable to continue as an outfielder, he transitioned to pitching, and played every college game — 55 total appearances — legally blind in one eye. "It starts there with the perseverance of all of those things," Callini said.
"He is as much responsible for the culture changes that have gone on this season as anyone else — any coach or player," Callini said. "And that’ll be bigger than any win or loss he got for us this year — that he was helping make those changes that will push this program to that continual winning spot we’ve been trying to get to ... he’s really been a huge part of that."
FULL CIRCLE
For a team that was predicted by the league’s coaches to finish second-to-last in the division, the Yellow Jackets had plenty of motivation — and by many standards, exceeded expectations.
“Every one of us had that preseason coaches’ poll taped to our locker,” Krause said. “We played our hearts out this year, picked up huge wins when no one expected us to, had players break out and be instrumental parts of our success, and didn’t give up, right through the last at bat of the season.”
Despite falling short of the postseason, the group set a new standard for excellence in AIC baseball — not just in on-the-field wins, but in overall confidence, teamwork and determination.
“Compared to previous seasons, the most noticeable difference for me was the work ethic of the players and the leadership displayed by younger players,” Coscio said. “You could walk into almost any part of the facilities and see a baseball player getting better at something. In the past it wasn’t always like this, you would see a couple of the same guys doing that stuff, but not a different person every day like this past year.”
“This team fought all year, and we never counted ourselves out,” Ciacciarelli said. “We had a lot of heart and the chemistry kept us together. I’ve never been part of a team that’s been so close and just wanted to win for each other.”
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Credits:
Sarah Kirkpatrick, RJB Sports, New Haven Athletics, AIC Athletics