Lasers Suffer Heartbreaker in GNAC Tournament; Fall to Lions 11-10

Malden, MA-- The Lasell College baseball team suffered a heartbreaking loss in the first round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament, 11-10, to Emerson College on Tuesday night at Maplewood Field. The Lasers entered the tournament as the fifth seed, facing the third seeded Lions, in the contest which ultimately ended the season for the second year Lasell program. Lasell finished the year with a 6-26 overall record.

The Lasers fell behind 4-1 in the first inning as Emerson benefited from four Laser miscues and three hits.  Jake Salkovitz (Brockton, MA) scored Lasell’s first run, having knocked a single and then been pushed through the bags by Josh Sullivan (Rockland, MA) and Conor Cavanagh (Quincy, MA).  Carlton Lentini (Wilmington, MA) brought Salkovitz home on a walk.

The Lasers’ errors compounded in the bottom half of the innings which resulted in two unearned runs through the four-run stretch. 

The Lasers scored once in the second, when Mike Grenier (Fitchburg, MA) tripled and was plated by Bobby Stachura (Middletown, CT) on a sacrifice fly into center field.  Lasell gained momentum in the third inning, turning six hits into five runs, and taking control of the scoreboard, 7-4. 

Herb Chappell (Salem, CT) led off the inning with a double, following by a Lentini walk and a Mike Mahoney (Rockland, MA) extra-base hit, which scored Chappell.  Grenier sent Lentini to home plate on a base-hit and Mike Mahoney scored on a Stachura double.  Salkovitz and Sullivan each produced RBI singles to complete the scoring in the frame.

The story of the fourth inning was no different as the Lasers bats stayed hot.  Lasell tallied up two quick runs in the top half of the fourth inning with a two run homer by Cavanagh. Chappell led off the inning with a walk and scored on the home run. Emerson would hold the lasers to just two runs that half inning, and then quickly found their stroke at the plate as well, scoring 3 runs in the bottom half of the stanza.

The Lasers scoring came to an end in the top half of the sixth inning when Cavanagh came to the plate once again and scorched a homerun to centerfield. Cavanagh’s second home run of the game gave the Lasers a 10-7 edge.

Emerson battled back and eventually tied the game in the end of the sixth inning.   Nick Vennochi (Melrose, MA) led off the inning with a walk and then Geoff Lopes (Falmouth, MA) was hit by a pitch giving the Lions two base runners with no outs.  Peter Maltzan (Lexington, MA) then tripled to score both Vennochi and Lopes.   Matlzan would eventually score on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Garber (Holmheln, NJ) tying the game at 10-all.

The Lasers were held scoreless in the top half of the seventh due to solid pitching by Levine.  The Lions managed to muster up one run in the bottom half of the inning gaining the lead going into the final two innings 11-10.

Levine managed to shut down the Lasers for the last two innings by escaping a bases loaded scare in the top half of the ninth inning. Levine finished the game with 10 strikeouts in six innings of work earning the victory while Sullivan took the loss pitching six and a third innings giving up nine earned runs on nine hits while striking out nine batters.

With the win, the Lions move on to the quarter finals of the GNAC tournament while the Lasers completed their 2010 season.