Baseball Falls to Suffolk in Second GNAC Tournament Game, 15-8

BOSTON (5/4/17) -- The third-seeded Lasell College baseball team posted 16 hits and scored six times over the last four innings, but the second-seeded Rams of Suffolk University earned a 15-8 win in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament quarterfinal action Thursday night at East Boston Memorial Park.

Lasell slips to 15-15 on the season with its first loss since April 23, while Suffolk improves to 23-13 and advances into the winner's bracket of the GNAC Tournament, which continues on Saturday, May 6 at Fraser Field in Lynn, Mass., after winning its second straight.

Sophomore second baseman David Marsell (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) and junior designated hitter Jesse Tejero (West Haven, Conn.) knocked three hits apiece to lead the Lasell offense, while third baseman Andre Marchesseault (Cheshire, Conn.) went 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored. Tejero and senior left fielder Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.) also drove in two runs apiece.

The Lasers got on the scoreboard with a first-inning run as senior shortstop Hector Coscione (Newton, Mass.) led off with a double to left field and Valentin drew his first of three walks. After graduate right fielder Skylar Beckerman (Pensacola, Fla.) laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over, junior first baseman Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the game's first run.

Suffolk tied the game on senior catcher Matt Brenner's (Eliot, Maine) single in the bottom of the first before taking the lead with three runs on three, two-out hits in the following frame, all of which were unearned due to an error earlier in the inning. Junior center fielder Brady Chant (Warwick, R.I.), senior shortstop Sean Cameron (Milford, Conn.), and Brenner delivered the hits off Lasell senior starter Frank Zammarelli (Burrillville, R.I.).

A run on three hits allowed the Lasers to get a run back in the fourth on sophomore catcher Robert Cutone's (Tewksbury, Mass.) RBI single to center field, which came after Marchesseault walked and Marsell doubled into left-center field.

Senior Matt Haskell (Wallingford, Conn.) relieved Zammarelli to start the fourth and was charged with three runs in the frame, including two on Brenner's double to right-center. Brenner finished the game with four of Suffolk's 20 hits, a run scored and five RBI, while Chant went 3-for-6, was one of two Rams to score three times, and drove in four.

The Lasers scored their third and fourth single runs against Suffolk junior Ryan Pordes (Hawthorne, Calif.) in the sixth and seventh innings. Marchesseault was involved on both of those run-scoring plays, touching home on Tejero's one-out single in the sixth before his single scored Valentin with two outs in the next frame. 

Suffolk's largest offensive output of the night came in the bottom of the seventh as it scored eight times on as many hits against Lasell freshmen relievers Lorenzo Davis (West Haven, Conn.) and Mike Tacinelli (Seymour, Conn.). Chant's three-run triple to the center-field wall was the last of five consecutive hits before an out was recorded in the inning and broke the game open in the Rams' favor.

The Lasers did not go away, however, scoring two runs on two hits in each of the final two innings against Suffolk reliever Tyler Zell (Marion, Mass.). Pordes earned the victory after striking out five and scattering four runs on 12 hits and four walks over seven innings.

On the pitching side for Lasell, freshman Patrick Colvin (Lenoxdale, Mass.) pitched two scoreless, one-hit innings after Haskell departed, while sophomore Brian Cohen (Rockland, Mass.) tossed a strikeout in his scoreless final frame.

As the tournament shifts to Lynn, the Lasers will face elimination against the top-seeded Monks of Saint Joseph's College of Maine at noon, while the defending champion Rams meet Johnson & Wales at approximately 3:30 p.m. with a championship spot on the line. The fourth-seeded Wildcats pulled off a 6-3 upset earlier Thursday in Standish, Maine.