Suffolk Stops Lasell in ECAC Baseball Quarterfinals

NEWTON, Mass. (5/7/2014) – The Lasell College baseball saw their inaugural trip to the ECAC tournament end in a quarterfinal loss to Suffolk University, 14-3 on Wednesday evening. The Lasers conclude their season with an 18-14 record, while Suffolk improves to 24-14-1 and they will face Salve Regina on Saturday May 10^th at 3:00 p.m. at Roger Williams University.

Senior Chris Pittman (Brockton, Mass.) singled, doubled and scored a run for Lasell and sophomore Wes Hurty (Windsor, Conn.) had a pair of singles for the Lasers. Ryan Bowen (Hudson, Mass.) took the loss, allowing five runs on five hits in one inning of work on the mound. Greg Sherman (Marshfield, Mass.) allowed five runs on nine hits in three innings of relief, with Rob Madden (Hingham, Mass.), Eric Howard (Newton, Mass.), Mike Rodriguez (Brockton, Mass.) and Brendan Jordan (Rocky Hill, Conn.) all coming on in relief as well.

Matt Brenner (Eliot, Maine) went 4-for-5 at the plate for Suffolk with two singles, two doubles, three runs scored and two knocked in. Rob Marks (Revere, Mass.) knocked in three runs and scored a pair while notching three singles in the game and four other Rams had two hits in the day as Suffolk tallied a season-high 18 hits. Frank Tierney (Hyde Park, Mass.) allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings of work while striking out six to earn the victory and Paul Pollano (North Andover, Mass.) and Jhonneris Mendez (Boston, Mass.) each tossed an inning of scoreless relief for Suffolk.

Suffolk jumped out to an early lead, scoring five runs, all with two outs in the bottom half of the first inning, getting a two-run double by Mike Muse (Milton, Mass.) and a pair of RBI singles from Rob Marks and Devan Jones (Roslindale, Mass.) to spark the outburst. Lasell cut the deficit to 5-3 with three runs on their own in the top of the second inning, using singles from Chris Pittman, Kevin Post (Cromwell, Conn.) and Bobby Ellard (Medfield, Mass.) in the rally to draw within two runs.

Suffolk responded with an RBI double from Brenner and a run-scoring single from Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) in the bottom of the second to push their lead to 7-3, then added a run in the third, two more in the fourth and fifth innings as well as single runs in the sixth and seventh to put the game out of reach and advance to the semifinals with the 14-3 victory.