Framingham Rolls to 16-7 Win over Lasell

Waltham, Mass. — Framingham State College rolled to a 16-7 win over the Lasell College baseball team on Friday afternoon at Stein Diamond.  The visiting Rams launched three home runs en route to their third straight victory, with Rob McLaughlin (Plymouth, Mass.) picking up the win on the mound.  

McLaughlin pitched a complete game allowing seven runs, five earned, on ten hits while striking out three.  McLaughlin did not surrender a walk in the game and only allowed one extra base hit by the Lasers.

Outfielder Will Crofton (Hopkinton, Mass.) paced the Rams at the plate as he went 3-for-6 with a homer run five RBI in the game, while Joe Sheehan also picked up three hits including a solo home run and two wall-ball doubles.

The Lasers were led by Junior Veiga (Randolph, Mass.), Carlton Lentini (Wilmington, Mass.) and Josh Sullivan (Rockland, Mass.) who each picked up two hits in the game.  Veiga and Lentini each chipped in two RBI.

Crofton started the Rams off with a single up the middle in the top of the first, then scored on a triple by Corey Ketterer (Plymouth, Mass.).  With Ketterer on third and one away, Sean Callahan (Watertown, Mass.) shot a sacrifice fly into right field to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage in the first.

Framingham blew out an 8-0 lead in the second on six hits, including a two-run homer by Steven Tramontozzi (Watertown, Mass.), his fourth home run of the year. Two hits and a walk set up Crofton to drive a two-run single through the right side, giving Framingham a 4-0 lead.  Crofton then came home on a balk and Callahan scored on Tramontozzi’s home run which cleared the left center fence.

Sheehan led-off the third inning slicing a double off the centerfield wall and Justin Wojcik (Dracut, Mass.) followed with a walk.  After an out, Crofton unloaded his third hit of the contest, a shot to centerfield that left the park and second home run of the season for an 11-0 Framingham lead.

Framingham tacked on another run in the fourth, when Sheehan dropped the Ram’s third homerun over the wall in center field.  The hit marked his second homer of the season.  A pop up to Lasell’s short stop Carlton Lentini (Wilmington, MA) ended the inning, stranding two Rams on base.

After three innings without a hit, Lasell loaded the bases with the 2-3-4 batters in the bottom of the fourth.  Matt Mahoney (Rockland, Mass.) was hit by a pitch, followed by a single into short center field by Sullivan.  Conor Cavanagh (Quincy, Mass.) reached base on a fielder’s choice, but Framingham was unsuccessful in their attempt to get Sullivan out at second.  Matt Mahoney gave Lasell their first run, coming home on another fielder’s choice, knocked by Mike Mahoney (Rockland, Mass.).   A fly out to left field ended the inning, leaving Laser runners on the corners.

Three additional Ram runs scored in the fifth, and the Lasers responded with a five-run sixth inning.

Matt Mahoney reached base on Framingham’s first error of the game and advanced to second on an overthrow. Sullivan singled to push Mahoney into scoring position and Cavanagh hit inside the right field line to plate Mahoney.  Lentini wrapped a doubled into left field to score Sullivan from second, bringing the score to 14-3. Another Ram miscue allowed Angelo Colucci (Stoneham, Mass.) to reach first, and plated Chris Williams (Hingham, Mass.) who had come in to pinch run for Cavanagh.    Veiga drilled an extra-base hit which scored Lentini as well as Colucci, unearned, leaving the score at the end of the inning 14-6.

Lasell added a run in the seventh when Matt Mahoney scored on a Lentini base-hit. Framingham added a run in the seventh when Ketterer reached on an error in the Lasers outfield and scored unearned on a double by Tramontozzi.  Sheehan doubled again in the eighth and came home on an RBI ground out by Daniel Tomasz.  The score heading into the final frame was 16-7.

Lasell’s overall slate lands at 5-24 after the defeat, while Framingham improves to 17-14.  Lasell has one more non-conference, regular season doubleheader on Sunday, April 25th at SUNY Cobleskill, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. before heading into the Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament on Tuesday, April 27th.  The Rams return to MASCAC action tomorrow at Holy Cross as they face Worcester State starting at 1 p.m.