Baseball Splits Twinbill with Utica College

Fort Myers, Fla. (3/21/13) - The Lasell College baseball earned a split of a doubleheader against Utica College on the fourth day of their trip to Florida. Lasell is 2-5 through the first seven games of their season, having played all of their games thus far down south. 

Game One: Lasell got a sterling performance for starting pitcher David Long (Brookfield, Conn.) and four different players scored for the Lasers as they defeated Utica College 4-3 in the first game of the doubleheader.

Long struck out 10 hitters while going six innings allowing three hits and three runs, only one of which was earned to pick up the victory for Lasell. Vinny Romano (Yonkers, N.Y.)struck out the only batter he faced after relieving Long in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Gary Trotteir (Rehoboth, Mass.) recorded the final two outs to earn the save. 

Corey Michel (Rochester, N.H.) went 1 for 3 with a single and drove in a pair of runs, and Bobby Stachura (Middletown, Conn.) and Rob Madden (Hingham, Mass.) each drove in runs for Lasell. 

Dustin Brown (Falmouth, Mass.) opened the top of the first with a leadoff single for Lasell, and after Billy Uberti (Newton, Mass.) was hit by a pitch Brown scored when Stachura reached on an error. Madden then plated Uberti with a run scoring double, staking Lasell to a 2-0 lead.

Utica scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning, tying the game at 2-2.

Dan Gagnon (Pomfret Center, Conn.) opened the second inning with a single, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brown before being knocked in by Michel's single putting Lasell back on top 3-2. 

Long then shut down the Pioneers bats, registering two strikeouts in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings helping Lasell hold their one run lead. The Lasers tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Wes Hurty (Windsor, Conn.) scored on a Michel sacrifice fly. 

Long departed after yielding a single to open the bottom of the seventh inning, and Romano whiffed the next batter for the first out of the inning. Trotteir relieved Romano, and after a single by the Pioneers scored a run and Utica loaded the bases he induced a game ending flyout to earn the save. 

Game Two: Lasell dropped the second game of the doubleheader 5-3 to Utica College, leaving them with a split on the afternoon. 

Dustin Brown had a pair of doubles and scored a run for Lasell, who also got an RBI double from Evan Mozingo (Brookfield, Conn.) and an RBI single from Jacob Salkovitz (Brockton, Mass.). Rob Madden walked three times and stole a pair of bases for Lasell.

Greg Sherman (Marshfield, Mass.) started on the mound for Lasell, allowing three runs, one earned and six hits while striking out three through five innings of work. Mike Rodriguez (Brockton, Mass.) took the loss, allowing two runs on two hits and stiking out two in two innings.

Utica opened the game by using back-to-back singles and an RBI groundout to get on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead after the top of the first. 

Brown opened the bottom of the inning with a double, and scored when Stachura reached on an error, tying the game at 1-1. Stachura would go on to score on a passed ball, giving Lasell a 2-1 lead after one. 

Utica went back in front 3-2, scoring two runs in the top of the second scoring on a passed ball and a squeeze bunt. 

Neither team threatened through their next couple of at-bats, before Lasell evened the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Jacob Salkovitz walked to lead-off the inning, stole second and scored on a double by Mozingo.

After Sherman set Utica down in order in the top of the fifth, Lasell loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fifth but were unable to push a run across. 

The Pioneers tacked on runs in the sixth and seventh, and a Lasell rally was stymied in the seventh.