Baseball Opens 2016 Season with 4-1 Win over UMass Boston

BOSTON, Mass.—A day after playing a near perfect season-opener, UMass Boston Baseball committed three errors and managed just five hits, in a 4-1 non-conference loss to Lasell College at Monan Park. The Lasers open the 2016 season at 1-0 while the Beacons shift to 1-1.

The Lasers struck for a single run in each of the first two innings and added one more run in the sixth and eighth innings, to earn their first win in five all-time tries against the Beacons.

2015 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year Josh Bahnick (Clinton, Mass.) combined with two other Lasers pitchers to allow just five hits and two walks in the 4-1 win. Bahnick opened the game allowing one hit and two walks in four innings, before junior Casey Johnson (Windsor, Conn.) came on and earned the win by throwing three scoreless frames. Senior Gary Trottier (Rehoboth, Mass.) pitched the final two innings for Lasell and allowed one run on one hit.

UMass Boston was led by junior catcher Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.), who contributed two hits and the team's lone RBI. Freshman Ray Zincone (West Warwick, R.I.) added his first collegiate hit in his first start and Josh Lopez (New Haven, Conn.) and Dave Murphy (Plymouth, Mass.) were the final Beacons to pick up hits in the loss. 

Sophomore Alex Carusotto (Pittsfield, Mass.) was the star on the mound, as the sophomore came on in the third and allowed just one unearned run in five innings. Carusotto gave up three hits, one walk and struck out three in his season debut. Freshman Joe Maguire (Peabody, Mass.) and Manny Garcia (Boston, Mass.) each made their collegiate debuts in the loss, as the pair threw the final two innings of the contest.  Sophomore Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.) took the loss for UMass Boston, as he allowed two runs, one earned, in two innings.

Lasell took the lead in the top of the first thanks to a lead-off walk, a throwing error and an RBI groundout. With a runner on third and one out, junior Hector Coscione (Newton, Mass.) drove in senior Dan Gagnon (Pomfret, Conn.) with a groundout to third. 

The Lasers used additional small-ball to tack on a second run in the second, as freshman Evan Michalek (Berlin, Conn.) plated classmate Chris Maringo (Framingville, N.Y.) with a sacrifice bunt.

In the top of the sixth, Lasell made it 3-0 when the Beacons dropped a fly ball with two outs and a pair of runners on base.  UMass Boston had a great chance to break through in the bottom half of the inning, but the Beacons couldn't score a run-despite loading the bases with just one out.

Lasell tacked on another insurance run in the eighth with Michalek hitting a sacrifice fly to deep center, to score junior Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.).

The Lasers will hop on a plane to Fort Myers, Fla. to play ten games in their spring break trip, starting on Sunday, March 13 with a doubleheader against Skidmore at 9:00 a.m. UMass Boston also flies to Florida on Wednesday and will open up with Trine University at 4:15 p.m. 

Recap Courtesy of UMass Boston Sports Information