Baseball Drops Two to Suffolk

BOSTON, Mass. (4/23/17) – The Lasell baseball team fell to Suffolk University in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at East Boston Memorial Stadium.

The Lasers dip to 10-14 overall and 6-4 in conference play, while the Rams improve to 20-9 and 11-1 in the GNAC.

Game One – Suffolk: 8 Lasell: 1

Hector Coscione (Newton, Mass.) led the Lasers on two hits and a run scored, while Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.) drove in Lasell's only run of the contest.

Valentin put a run on the board in the top of the first, scoring Coscione from second who swung into a leadoff double to left. The Rams responded in the home half of the inning, as Sean Cameron started the rally with a single up the middle and took second on an error by the Lasers. With Rams on first and second, Matt Brenner collected an RBI with a single to right field to knot the game at 1-1. Luke Ronchi and BJ Neil then each drew a bases loaded walk to bring in two more, before and the pair came on an RBI single to center from Kevin Higgins to give Suffolk a 5-1 advantage after one.

Suffolk put more distance between the Lasers with three runs in the bottom of the third. Tirone's triple opened the inning with the third baseman scoring on a 63 ground out by Ronchi. Two batters later BJ Neil doubled to left center and Higgins followed suit with a jack over the left field fence to stretch the Rams' advantage to seven, 8-1, with three innings in the book.

A scoreless contest rolled from there with the Rams locking up the win thanks to a three-up, three-down top of the seventh.

Daniel Petr (East Haven, Conn.) fell on the hill for the Lasers, as the starter dealt the first 3.0 frames, allowing eight runs (five earned) with six hits and two strikeouts.

Game Two – Suffolk: 4 Lasell: 3

Valentin smacked a two-run home to tie things up with the Rams in the fourth inning, as the junior outfielder went 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. Sophomore Brett Sherron (Howard Beach, N.Y.) drove in a run for the Lasers on a 2-for-3 showing, while Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.), Valentin and Coscione crossed home in the setback.

Zeros remained on the scoreboard until the bottom of the second inning when Higgins sent a solo shot over the left field fence to break open the scoring. The one-run lead was shortlived as Lasell leveled the playing field in the next half inning when Mascolo took the plate and roped a double, advancing to third on a sac bunt by sophomore Andre Marchesseault (Chesire, Conn.). Suffolk regained the advantage in the home half of the fourth, as Brenner led things off with a double to right field and came in on Kevin Belskie's single through the left side. BJ Neil cracked a single to left and scored Ronchi, who reached on a single, to make it a 3-1 Suffolk game.

With Suffolk two outs away from the win up two in the top of the seventh, Valentin knocked a homer over the right field fence to bring in Coscione, who tripled, to equalize the playing field at 3-all. The Rams minimized the damage with a 643-double play to set-up another walk-off win, a single from Cameron.

The Lasers used Casey Johnson (Windsor, Conn.) and Coscione on the hill, as Johnson suffered the setback letting up four runs on eight hits while fanning three batters.

Lasell returns to GNAC play on the road on Wednesday for a doubleheader at Albertus Magnus.