Sherron Walk Off Keeps Baseball Alive in GNAC Tournament

PROVIDENCE, RI – A Brett Sherron (Howard Beach, N.Y.) single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Lasell College baseball team to a 5-4 victory over Johnson & Wales University in a GNAC Tournament elimination game on Saturday. 

Lasell improved to 21-16 on the year and will take on the loser of the St. Joseph's of Maine and Suffolk contest in another elimination game later on Saturday. JWU ends its season with a 24-16 mark.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Lasell's Tyler Flaherty (Portland, Maine) singled up the middle then moved to third on a single by Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.). Sherron – who came in as a pinch hitter in the seventh - delivered a single down the right field line off JWU reliever Brandon Budlong to score Flaherty and keep the Lasers alive in the GNAC Tournament.

Daniel Petr (East Haven, Conn.) came on in the seventh for Lasell and threw 2.1 innings to pick up the victory. He improved to 3-1. Budlong was saddle with the loss, dropping his record to 1-2. Wildcats starter Brandon Rainville gave up four runs, three earned, with nine strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work.

Lasell out-hit Johnson & Wales, 15-10, with Dan Gagnon (Pomfret, Conn.) and Flaherty leading the way with a trio of hits. The Wildcats had three players with a pair of hits, led by shortstop Lou Umberto.

Johnson & Wales got the game started with four runs in the top of the first against Lasell starter Gary Trottier (Rehoboth, Mass.). Umberto hit a double to left field that scored Rob Ballinger then came around to score himself on a single from Carlos Sanabria. Jordan Pilarski finished the scoring with a sacrifice fly to plate Dave Matthews.

The Lasers chipped away for a run in the second and third innings. With one out in the second, Flaherty walked, moved up to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single from Mascolo.  Lasell had two runners on in the third but Ranville picked Evan Michalek (Berlin, Conn.) off at second. Gagnon stole second and came around to cross the plate on an RBI single to left field from Wes Hurty (Windsor, Conn.).

After Petr got Lasell out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh, the Laser responded by scoring two runs to tie the game. A balk moved Gagnon to third and he scored on Hurty's second RBI single of the game. Flaherty raced down the first base line to beat the throw on a potential inning-ending double play. Hurty, who moved up to third on the play, crossed the plate with the tying run on a passed ball.