Baseball Splits with Emerson; Wins 14-10 in Game Two

Waltham, Mass- Lasell took the second game of a GNAC baseball doubleheader with Emerson on Sunday afternoon in a 14-10 victory over the Lions.  Mike Mahoney (Rockland, Mass.) pitched four innings for the Lasers in the win, with Randy Weiner (Randolph, Mass.) taking the save.  Lasell finishes GNAC the regular season of their inaugural year at 10-21 overall, and an impressive 6-9 in the conference.

Emerson had a four run inning to begin the game, putting Lasell into an early deficit subsequent to the top half of the first.

In the second inning, Lasell tied things up beginning with the first three Laser batters walking to get on base.  Mike Mahoney earned a run then Mike Grenier (Fitchburg, Mass.) and Sean Ruderman (Pittsfield, Mass.) scored unearned on a Lion error. Josh Sullivan (Rockland, Mass.) brought the tying run in on an RBI triple, scored by Ryan Walsh (Stoneham, Mass.)

Mike Mahoney had the bases loaded in the third with one out after striking out Speakman swinging. However, Fontanella's third sac of the day sent Peter Maltzan (Lexington, Mass.) home to put Emerson back in the lead.  The Lasers defended any further progress by the Lions as Sullivan sent the third out to Cavanaugh at first on a ground out.

Cavanaugh led off in the third with a grounder straight past the pitcher and Mike Mahoney followed suite with a line drive to short center.  Veiga walked to load the bases with no outs.  Lasell tied the game up a second time at 5-all as Cavanaugh scored on a balk, while leaving two more Lasers in scoring position.

Levine retired one batter to get the first out of the inning, followed by Ruderman walking to fill the bases once again.  Enter Walsh, who slammed a two RBI single to a wide open gap in right field bringing home Veiga and Grenier, putting Lasell up 7-5.

Lasell continued to score, sending home four more runs on three hits and two errors.  Ruderman, Walsh, Sullivan, and Amon all scored, with Sullivan hitting a single and Amon doubling.

Maltzan and Ritson scored in the fourth on a double by Brendan Lahr (Potomac, MD) cutting the gap to 11-7.

Lasell, however, scored three more in the second half inning with two outs as Sullivan repeated his single to center field, two-RBI play from the previous inning and Amon doubled again to drive in the third run.

Nick Guzman (Worcester, Mass.) relieved Mahoney in the fifth and pitched for 2.0 innings. After Fontanella tripled, he came home as Karl earned the RBI. Kitson scored unearned in the inning, leaving the end score 14-9.

Emerson scored again in the sixth as Karl nailed another double to left field and Fontanella scored again.

The Lasers held onto the 14-10 edge heading into the seventh.  Matt Mahoney got the first out catching a line drive at second, then Sullivan made the second out at second picking off the runner who got caught off the base.  Weiner struck out the last batter looking to close the Laser victory.

The Lasers also celebrated senior day on Sunday, honoring their three graduating athletes who will be graduating in May.  Steve Vanderwerken (Rockport, Mass.), Nick Guzman, and Ryan Walsh were recognized prior to the doubleheader for their time with the Lasell Baseball team.

Lasell travels to Albertus Magnus on Wednesday, April 22^nd for a 6:30 p.m. first round GNAC tournament game with the Falcons.  The Lasers had previously secured their spot in the playoffs with two wins over Rivier College.