Lasell Rallies to Beat Albertus Magnus; Move On to GNAC Quarter Finals

WALTHAM, MA- The Lasell Baseball team rallied to knock off Albertus Magnus, 8-5, in the first round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) playoffs Tuesday night in an exciting back and forth game.

The Lasers got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth off Falcon starter, Matt Finkenzeller (Wolcott, CT). With one out, Joshua Sullivan (Rockland, MA) lined one into centerfield and Falcon centerfielder Rob Gambardella (North Haven, CT) dove to make the play but the ball got past him.   Sullivan used his speed to advance all the way to third. The next Laser batter was Conor Cavanagh (Quincy, MA) who delivered a base hit though the right side to put Lasell ahead, 1-0, as Sullivan came home.

After getting runners on but not being able to capitalize in the early going off Lasell starter Eric Howard (Newton, MA), Albertus Magnus would rally in the top half of the fifth to tie the game. After a one out walk by Robert Bengivengo (Oxford, CT), back-to-back singles by Gambardella and Malcolm Mendez (New York, NY) loaded the bases. Bengivengo then tagged up from third on a Matt Caputo (East Haven, CT) fly out to even the score.

In the bottom half of the fifth, Lasell would take the lead once again. Matt Mahoney (Rockland, MA) led the inning off with a walk followed by freshman Andrew Pompeo (Hingham, MA) blasting a double to deep right centerfield, scoring Mahoney and knocking Finkenzeller out of the game. Caputo came out of the bullpen for the Falcons and gave up a Billy Uberti (Newton, MA) single which scored Pompeo to stretch the lead to 3-1 at the end of five.

Lasell would tack on another in the bottom half of the sixth when Cavanagh drilled a leadoff double to left centerfield. Caputo would retire the next two batters, but not before Cavanagh stole third. Matt Mahoney came through with a huge two-out base hit to centerfield bringing Cavanagh home and lengthening the Laser lead to three.

In the bottom of seventh, with the game seemingly in the hands of Lasell, Albertus Magnus rallied off reliever Matt Pitts (Stoneham, MA). Zac Sokolis (Meriden, CT) led off the inning with a double to left centerfield, which was followed by consecutive singles by  Bengivengo, Gambardella, and Mendez tying the game at four without an out being recorded. Pitts would be relieved by right hander Mike Rodriguez (Brockton, MA). With Mendez on third, Victor DeSimone (Southbury, CT) lined a pinch hit single just out of the reach of third baseman Bobby Stachura's (Middletown, CT) diving attempt giving the Falcons a 5-4 lead.

With Lasell running out of opportunities, Cavanagh once again led off an inning with a base hit, sparking a Laser rally. After Brent Barth (Guilford, CT) hit Christopher Pittman (Brockton, MA) with a pitch, the Falcons recorded the first out of the inning when they caught Cavanagh too far off of second. However, the rest of the Laser lineup would pick up their captain.

Carlton Lentini (Wilmington, MA) would walk putting runners on first and second. Matt Mahoney then laid a perfect bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Head coach Greg Harjula then called on Mike Mahoney (Rockland, MA) to lay down a bunt of his own, this time a squeeze, which was executed perfectly, bringing in Pittman to tie the game 5-5. Pompeo and Uberti then singled back to back to bring in three more Laser runs breaking the tie and giving Lasell a commanding 8-5 lead entering the 9^th.

Rodriguez would close the door in the 9^th, giving the Lasers their first playoff victory in school history.

Rodriguez picked up the win out of the bullpen, going three innings not allowing a run on two hits. Barth took the loss for the Falcons, allowing four runs on three hits in just one inning of work.

Howard, in his first career postseason start, went five innings allowing just one run while striking out six.

The no. 4 seeded Lasers (21-13, 8-6 GNAC) advance in the GNAC quarter finals and will take on the no. 1 seed St. Joseph's College of Maine (26-11, 12-2 GNAC) on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.