Late Rally Comes up Short as Nighthawks Edge Baseball 7-6

Waltham, Mass. (3/29/16) – The Lasell baseball team fell to the Newbury Nighthawks, 7-6 on Wednesday evening at Stein Diamond on the campus of Brandeis University. The Lasers fall to 7-8, while the Nighthawks improve to 9-11 on the season.

Senior Wes Hurty (Windsor, Conn.) shined for the Lasers with two singles and two RBIs on the night. Fellow classmate Skyler Beckerman (Pensacola, Fla.) contributed two singles and a ribbie to the Lasers' cause.

For the Nighthawks, sophomore Garrison Oliver-Jones (Hull, Mass.) connected for two hits on the night while driving in two runners and scoring a run himself. Senior Ryan Zahornasky (Shelton, Conn.) delivered a bases clearing double in the top of the third for the biggest hit of the night.

The Lasers got on the board in the bottom of the second when freshman Brett Sherron (Howard Beach, NY.) took home after a stolen base by junior Matt Haskell (Wallingford, Conn.). The Nighthawks responded with four runs in the top of the third led by a bases clearing double by Zahornasky.

Beckerman began to chip away at the Nighthawks' lead in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single. In the bottom of the fourth, Hurty delivered a two run single to pull within one run of the Nighthawks. Newbury, however, added two insurance runs in the sixth and eighth inning to make the score 7-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

The Lasers mounted a comeback in their final at bats starting with a single by junior Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.), where Hurty and Beckerman then contributed back-to-back singles to load the bases. After two passed balls scored two runs for the Lasers, the comeback fell just short after a fly out to left field that ended the game.

Starting pitchers for both Lasell and Newbury were on short leashes tonight, only throwing two innings each. Freshman Daniel Petr (East Haven, Conn.) came in relief in the third and pitched 6 2/3 innings while striking out five batters. Sophomore Jacob Pringle (Acushnet, Mass.) came on in relief for the Nighthawks and earned the win while Ethan Forrest shut the door on the Lasers to earn his first save of the season.

Lasell will play at Emerson College on Thursday, March 31 and will then return home to play a doubleheader on Saturday against Suffolk University.