Baseball Falls to UMass Boston on Opening Day, 11-6

BOSTON (3/2/17) -- On a bitter, windy Thursday afternoon and early evening at Monan Park, the Lasell College baseball team banged out 12 hits but suffered an 11-6 defeat to reigning NCAA Tournament participant UMass Boston in its 2017 debut.

The Lasers slip to 0-1 on the season, while the Beacons ― winners of 30 games a season ago ― improve to 1-0.

Sophomore third baseman Andre Marchessault (Cheshire, Conn.) had a career day in his first collegiate start for the Lasers, going 4-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, while senior shortstop Hector Coscione (Newton, Mass.) and junior first baseman Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) slapped a couple hits apiece and combined for three runs scored.

On the mound, sophomore Daniel Petr (East Haven, Conn.) followed senior starter Casey Johnson (Windsor, Conn.) and did not allow an earned run over four innings, while striking out three. Senior Frank Zammarelli (Burrillville, R.I.) recorded a strikeout.

The wind was on the Lasers' side in the first inning as Coscione hit a two-out, inside-the-park home run on a ball that was hit to left field and blew all the way towards the deepest part of the ballpark in right-center. Coscione circled the bases and scored Lasell's first run of the season without a relay throw home.

UMB responded with two runs in the second and third innings to take a 4-1 lead. Senior catcher Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.) opened the second with a triple and scored on sophomore second baseman Charlie Huegi's (Sandy Hook, Conn.) RBI single, while center Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.) knocked one through the right side.

The hosts benefitted from two errors in the third inning, scoring scored their two runs on just sophomore third baseman Kyle Boudrias' (Medford, Mass.) double.

Beacon starter Dan Mantoni's (Northbridge, Mass.) day ended in the fourth as Lasell cut its deficit to just one run, on two hits and an error. After Marchessault doubled down the left field line with one out, two Lasell runs scored as designated hitter Brett Sherron (Howard Beach, N.Y.) reached on UMB shortstop Dave Murphy's (Plymouth, Mass.) two-base error.

Johnson dialed up strikeouts for three of his first four outs in the ballgame, but the Beacons broke the game open with a five-run, five-hit fourth in which Mantoni helped his own cause with a single to right field and Murphy made up for the earlier miscue with a sac fly to left.

UMB sophomore Fernando Burgos (Hyde Park, Mass.) earned the win in relief of Mantoni, although Lasell tagged him for three runs in the sixth after its first four runners reached base. Sherron was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force the first run home. Senior left fielder Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.) scored Marchessault on an infield single.

Petr retired six straight batters from the fifth through seventh, but the Beacons scored twice more in the eighth while sending eight batters to the plate.

Lasell put two men on base in the ninth, but sophomore Bobby Tramondozzi (Peabody, Mass.) struck out a pair to clinch the season-opening victory for UMB.

The Lasers have more than a week off before resuming play with a non-conference doubleheader against Worcester State at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Mass., on Saturday, March 11 at 11:00 a.m. The Beacons face another local foe on Monday, March 6 as Brandeis University makes the short drive into town for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch.