Baseball Honors Nine Graduating Seniors in 8-4 Loss to UMass Boston

WALTHAM, Mass. (4/19/15) – The Lasell College baseball team fell to the University of Massachusetts Boston 8-4 in non-conference action Sunday afternoon at the Stein Diamond on the campus of Brandeis University The Lasers finish out the year at 13-15, while the Beacons improve to 13-11.

Prior to today's game, Lasell College honored its nine graduating seniors for their contributions to the baseball program. Jackson Gervais (Rehobeth, Mass.), Dan Mickens (Montclair, N.J.), Kevin Post (Cromwell, Conn.) Vinny Romano (Yonkers, N.Y.), Matt Sammarco (New Canaan, Conn.), Greg Sherman (Marshfield, Mass.),  Evan Mozingo (Brookfield, Conn.), AJ McKenzie (Pasadena, M.D.), and Ryan Bowen (Hudson, Mass.) have represented the Lasell College baseball team with leadership, dedication, and hard work. We wish them well in their future endeavors, and look forward to following their success.

Sophomore center fielder Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.) led the Lasers at the plate, crushing his first career home run to go along with two RBI's. McKenzie drove in a third run for the Lasers with a double, while Sammarco, Gervais, and freshmen Jesse Tejero (West Haven, Conn.) and Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) each swung into a base hit.

Junior Daniel Bonito (Swampscott, Mass.) paced the Beacons with two hits, two RBI's and a run scored, while junior Luke Nagle (Pembroke, Mass.) went 2-for-3 with a double. Freshman Josh Lopez (New Haven, Conn.) went 2-for-3 with one ribbie, as four other Beacons registered hits for the visitors.

The Beacons were first to get on the board in the top of the third, highlighted by back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning. Nagle and sophomore Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.) roped a double apiece to give the visitors the one-up advantage, where UMB then packed in three more runs.

After Lopez singled to drive in Searles in the fourth, Valentin took the plate for the Lasers and cracked a long shot to left center for his first career homer. Down 8-1 in the Lasers' last chance at bat, Valentin smacked a double to drive in Tejero. Lasell continued to rally in the final plays of the game, as McKenzie grounded out to second base to plate a third run. Valentin crossed home plate on a wild pitch by the Beacons to give the Lasers four, but a final strikeout gave Umass s the 8-4 victory.

Romano suffered the loss on the hill for the Lasers, pitching 2.2 innings with three hits and two earned runs. Senior Steve Roche (Worcester, Mass.) improved his record to 2-2, pitching a four-hit seven-inning show.

With a final 9-5 conference record, the Lasers will host Rivier University for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Quarterfinal game on Tuesday, April 21 with first-pitch slated for 6:00 p.m.