Lasell Baseball trades GNAC wins at Anna Maria

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – Freshman Wyatt Sihvonen (Lebanon, Conn.) went 3-for-5 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs and junior Chris Maringo (Farmingville, N.Y.) went 5-for-5 with three doubles and three RBIs as Lasell College walloped Anna Maria College, 13-3, in the first game of the Great Northeast Athletic (GNAC) baseball doubleheader at the New England Baseball Complex.

The Amcats shook off the first-game loss and came back to win the nightcap, 4-1, as freshman Nick Genatossio (Sutton, Mass.) allowed just one unearned run on five hits in the complete-game victory.

With the split, Lasell moves to 6-6 in the GNAC (7-18 overall), while Anna Maria is now 4-8 in the conference and 14-21 overall.

The Lasers have mid-week non-conference games scheduled this week against Dean College, Framingham State University and Pine Manor College before the final GNAC games of the regular season next Saturday, April 28, against Albertus Magnus College.

Game 1 – Lasell 13, Anna Maria 3

The Lasers took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third innings on an RBI double by Sihvonen and an RBI single by junior Brett Sherron (Howard Beach, N.Y.) They extended the lead to 4-0 in the third when Maringo led off with  double and Sihvonen drilled his first home run of the day to center field.

After Anna Maria got on the board with an RBI single by Adam Twitchell (Shrewsbury, Mass) single in the bottom of the fourth, the Lasers tacked on two more in the top of the fifth on a two-run single by junior Evan Michalek (Berlin, Conn.)

Lasell turned it into a rout with seven runs in the top of the seventh. Maringo started the scoring with an RBI double, and Sihvonen added his second homer of the day, a two-run shot to center. Sophomore Luke Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) later added an RBI single, junior Rob Cutone (Tewksbury, Mass.) walked with the bases loaded, and Maringo capped the rally with a two-run double to left.

Junior David Marsell (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) pitched six innings to earn the win for Lasell (2-1), allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk, lowering his team-leading ERA to 2.31.

Game 2 – Anna Maria 4, Lasell 1

Genatossio helped himself out with an RBI single in the first inning, and the hosts made it 3-0 with back-to-back RBI doubles by Mike Tourony (Douglas, Mass) and Noah Holland (Sandwich, Mass) in the third. The Amcats added another run in the fourth on a Lasell infield error.

The Lasers managed just three hits off Genatossio through five innings before getting on the board with a run in the sixth when Marsell came home on a single by junior Andre Marchesseault (Cheshire, Conn.). But Genatossio got the next batter to fly out and retired the side in the seventh to close out the win.

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