Baseball Splits with Skidmore to Open Fort Myers Trip

FORT MYERS, Fla. (3/13/16) – The Lasell men's baseball team kicked off their spring break trip with a 1-1 outing against Skidmore College on Sunday afternoon at the Lee County Player Development Complex. The Lasers shift to 2-1 on the year, while the Thoroughbreds move to 2-2 this season.

Game One – Skidmore: 26 Lasell: 11

Senior Dan Gagnon (Pomfret, Conn.) went 2-for-3 with a double and a run batted in to lead the Lasers, while classmate Skylar Beckerman (Pensacola, Fla.) followed with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate. Lasell saw additional RBI's from senior Wes Hurty (2) (Windsor, Conn.), juniors Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.) and Matt Haskell (Wallingford, Conn.), sophomore Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) and freshmen Robert Cutone (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Evan Michalek (Berlin, Conn.).

Heavy hitting highlighted by a homer apiece from Skidmore's Josh Brown (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) and Mike Fogarty (Peterborough, N.H.). Fogary led the offensive charge with six additional RBI's on a 3-for-6 outing, while Mat Marino (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) swung into a triple and a pair of ribbies, going 5-for-6 for the day.

With the bases juiced in the opening inning of play, Brown swung into a left-center dinger grab an early 3-0 lead on the Lasers.  Lasell responded with a five-run inning of their own, with runs driven home by Hurty, Mascolo, Valentin, and Haskell.  The Lasers would keep the lead hot in their next at bats, with Hurty driving in Gagnon before the Thoroughbreds switched gears on offense.

In the next three innings, Skidmore combined for 12 runs and never trailed en route to a 26-13 final. Andrew Aikins (Rumson, N.J.) earned the win on the mound, while sophomore Josh Bahnick (Clinton, Mass.) allowed six earned runs on eight hits for his first loss of the season.

Game Two- Lasell: 14 Skidmore: 10

Hurty went 4-for-5 in a tremendous outing for the closing game of the day, with three doubles and a homerun for four combined RBI's. Valentin stayed consistent at the plate with a trouble and a ribbie, while Michalek drove in three runs of his own.

Marino shined for the Thoroughbreds in the effort with three hits including a home run to left field, joining Shawn Kiler (Mendham, N.J.) and Steven Gilbert (Franklin, Mass.) on the RBI tally.

Valentin started the game off right with an immediate triple, and later plated home after throwing error on the Thoroughbreds. Junior Casey Johnson (Windsor, Conn.) took the plate for the first time today, catching two batters on the look with a final groundout to take out the top order 1-2-3.

Five hits piled on the runs for Lasell in the second, as Beckerman, freshman Greg Camarda and Michalek crossed home after swinging into a single apiece. Skidmore broke the scoreless showing in the next inning with two runs, followed by a hitless performance on the mound from Misha Holzman (New York, N.Y.) Skidmore stole the lead in their next at bat with a Gilbert go-ahead single for the 7-6 advantage.

Junior Dan Berger (Meriden, Conn.) took the mound for Johnson in the top of the fourth, and kept Skidmore from the hit column heading into the turnaround inning for the Lasers. A combined five runs before the Thoroughbred's last at bats put the Lasers in a 14-8 position, as senior Gary Trottier (Rehoboth, Mass.) closed the outing on the hill two swinging strikeouts and two unearned runs.

Berger earned the win for the Lasers, going three innings with four strikeouts and one earned run, while Holzman suffered the loss on ten runs – seven earned – in four innings pitched for Skidmore.

The Lasers return to doubleheader action tomorrow, March 14 as they face Edgewood College with first pitched plated for 9:00 a.m.