Baseball Suffers Two Losses on Opening Day

FAYETTEVILLE, NC-- On opening day of the Lasell College baseball team's 2010 season, the Lasers suffered two close losses against Frostburg State University, 6-5, and Utica College, 13-10. 

Lasell opened against Frostburg State at the JP Riddle Stadium in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  The Bobcats used a walk-off RBI single by Daniel Heatwole (Dayton, VA) to defeat the Lasers in the ninth inning.

FSU got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Jeff Kroboth (Nazareth, PA) tripled to right center field, then scored, unearned, off a Laser throwing error. 

The Lasers remained scoreless through the fourth inning when a four-hit, five-run inning gave them a distinct 5-1 advantage in top of the fifth.  A two-RBI single by Carlton Lentini (Wilmington, MA) sent Jake Salkovitz (Brockton, MA) and Bobby Stachura (Middletown, CT) around the bags, allowing Lasell to take over the lead (2-1).  Josh Sullivan (Rockland, MA), Conor Cavanaugh (Quincy, MA) and Herb Chappell (Salem, CT) followed suit with consecutive RBI-singles to produce the Lasers’ four run advantage.

Frostburg’s Matt Greene (Westminster, MD) knocked a two-run home run to right field in the sixth to close the gap  and a two-run single by Joe Garrity (Chesapeak, VA) evened the score to five-all.

Lasell left the go-ahead run on base in the top of the ninth inning, which allowed the Bobcats room to close the game.  Rich Schuler (Wilmington, DE) reached on a Laser error and was replaced by pinch runner Britton Quayle (Severna Park, MD).  Quayle stole second and reached third on a passed ball, at which point Heatwole’s hit the game-winning single to right center.

Sullivan spent six innings pitching for Lasell, striking out three and letting up just two earned runs.  Matt Pitts (Stoneham, MA) relieved Sullivan in the seventh, retiring two additional batters.

In the second game of the day, the Lasers faced the Utica College Pioneers.  After giving up just one run in the first five innings and taking a 10-7 advantage in the bottom of the sixth, the Pioneers took advantage of three passed balls, a fielding error, and a wild pitch to score the final five runs of the game and seal the 13-10 victory.  

The Pioneers got on the board early in the first inning when Adam Bittel (North Hartford, CT) launched a sacrifice fly to right field allowing Anthony DiSalvo (Washingtonville, NY) to score.

After three scoreless innings on both sides, Lasell got on top, 3-1, in the bottom of the fifth.  Pat Girard (Stonington, CT) and Jim Amon (Warren, NJ) walked and Salkovitz bunted into a single to load the bases.  Matt Mahoney (Rockland, MA) walked to score Girard and Lentini earned an RBI hitting a fielder’s choice which sent Amon home.  Salkovitz then scored the Lasers’ third run on a wild pitch.

Utica regained control of the lead (7-3) with a six-run inning in the top of the sixth, however, Lasell answered in the bottom of the inning with four hits and seven runs to shift the score to their advantage once more (10-7).  James O’Neil (San Diego, CA) produced two hits, earned two RBI and scored once for the Lasers, while Lentini and Cavanaugh produced one hit, one run and two RBI in the inning.

The Pioneers would score twice in the seventh, and once in the eighth to tie the game at 10-all.  After three additional runs in the ninth gave Utica the edge, the Lasers were unable to capitalize on their last-chance in the bottom of the inning and suffered their second loss of the season.

Mike Mahoney (Rockland, MA) spent 5.2 innings on the mound, striking out eight Pioneers in the process.

The Lasers will look for redemption against the Bobcats on Thursday, March 18^th when they challenge Frostburg for the second time at 7:00 p.m.   Lasell will first face the University of Wisconsin-Platteville at 3:30 p.m.