WEST HAVEN, Conn. – Heading on the road to begin the postseason, the Pace University baseball team had its 2021 campaign end on Tuesday afternoon courtesy of a 4-3 loss at third-seeded New Haven.

With the score tied up at 3-3 after 8.5 innings, the Chargers clinched the victory courtesy of a two-out infield single by Noah Budzik in the bottom of the ninth. Budzik raced out a chopper to first, which allowed Billy Huber to score the game-winning run from third base.

After going down 1-0 in the second, the Setters took a pair of one-run leads before New Haven eventually clawed back.

An Andrew Primm (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) sacrifice fly in the third evened up the game at 1-1, while a Matt Almonte (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) RBI single later in the inning provided Pace with a 2-1 edge.

Following a Chargers' run in the fourth, Pace's second lead came courtesy of the first-career home run off the bat of Mitchell McCabe (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford/ Bridgton Academy). The senior launched a one-out solo bomb in the sixth to make the score 3-2.

Sophomore Christian Aich (Sayreville, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) was Pace's starting pitcher on Tuesday. The right-hander allowed just two earned runs across 6.1 innings of work. He struck out five, while yielding seven hits.

Senior Thomas Ippolito (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) was issued the loss on the mound after giving up the Chargers' winning run in the ninth. Ippolito had entered the contest with one out in the seventh.

Pace's offense tallied 11 hits in the game, finishing with six runners left on base. Harrison Treble (Oyster Bay, N.Y./Oyster Bay) capped off his terrific senior year with a 3-for-4 effort, while Almonte and Dean DePreta (Stamford, Conn./Westhill High School) each recorded a pair of hits.

Almonte wrapped up a sensational 2021 with an .400 batting average across 30 games. He also put together team-bests in RBIs (30), runs scored (27), home runs (6), and slugging (.645).