Baseball Upsets Top-Seeded St. Joe's, Falls to JWU in GNAC Elimination Games

LYNN, Mass. (5/6/17) -- The third-seeded Lasell College baseball team staved off elimination from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament with an upset of the top-seeded and nationally-ranked Monks of Saint Joseph's College of Maine, but saw its 2017 season come to an end at the hands of Johnson & Wales University later Saturday night at Fraser Field.

After scoring two runs in the ninth inning to earn a 5-3 win and end the Monks' season, the Lasers suffered a 15-1 setback to the fourth-seeded Wildcats in their second elimination game of the day.

The Lasers finish the season at 16-16, while St. Joe's fell to 31-8 and JWU advances to Sunday's action to play two-time defending GNAC champion Suffolk with a 23-18 overall mark.

Lasell 5, Saint Joseph's (Maine) 3

Lasell took a 2-0 lead through three innings as senior left fielder Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.) scored on an error in the first and manufactured another run on three hits two innings later. In the third, junior first baseman Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) hit a one-out double to center field and advanced as sophomore third baseman Andre Marchesseault (Cheshire, Conn.) singled, and then second baseman David Marsell (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) did the same.

Senior Casey Johnson (Windsor, Conn.) dealt seven innings of seven-hit, three-run ball in a starting role for Lasell, but the Monks tagged him for a fifth-inning run on sophomore catcher Anthony DiPrizio's (Rochester, N.H.) RBI groundout, cutting the score to 2-1.

St. Joe's juniors Marc Poirier (Lunenberg, Mass.) and Philip LeVangie (Hanover, Mass.) combined to hold the Lasers scoreless over 3.1 combined innings after classmate Travis Godbout (Portland, Maine) lasted just 2.1 and allowed two runs on five hits.

The Lasers tagged ace reliever Josh Partridge (Deerfield, N.H.) for a run without the benefit of a hit in the eighth as Marsell reached on an error, advanced on another, and scored on a passed ball.

After St. Joe's used sophomore second baseman Joey Murphy's (Derry, N.H.) two-run single to center field to tie the game in the bottom half of the eighth, Lasell scored two runs on three hits in the ninth as Marchesseault ― the fourth of four straight Lasers to reach base against Partridge at the start of the inning ― roped a two-run single up the middle.

The Monks had a runner reach due to an error in their half of the ninth, but senior Hector Coscione (Newton, Mass.) made otherwise quick work to earn his third victory of the season. He struck out one batter over two hitless innings, while Partridge was handed the loss.

Lasell posted 11 hits in the ballgame. Mascolo finished the game 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Valentin scored twice and drew two walks in addition to recording a hit. Marchesseault and Marsell each had two-hit games and combined to drive in three runs.

Johnson & Wales 15, Lasell 1

The nightcap was a different story for the Lasers as they were held to just five hits against JWU senior Lane Compton (Freeland, Mich.), who fanned nine batters over the nine-inning complete game for his fifth victory of the season.

Once again, Lasell scored its run first as sophomore catcher Robert Cutone (Tewksbury, Mass.) capped off a two-hit second inning with a single to right field. Marchesseault tripled to deep center with one out in that frame and scored the Lasers' only run of the game on Cutone's hit, while Marsell went 2-for-4 for the second consecutive game.

From there, the Lasers managed just three hits while JWU scored a tying run in the second, five times in the fourth, once in the fifth, six in the sixth, and two in the seventh.

The Wildcats used just three hits during their six-run rally in the sixth as senior first baseman Ryan Cabral (Scituate, R.I.) cranked a three-run double into the right-center field gap. Senior shortstop Lou Umberto (Cranston, R.I.) and third baseman Greg Joubert (Cumberland, R.I.) each posted three-hit days for the Wildcats.

Umberto scored twice and drove in two more runs, while Joubert scored three and added five RBI, including a two-run single into right-center field immediately after Lasell senior Frank Zammarelli (Burrillville, R.I.) relieved classmate Matt Haskell (Wallingford, Conn.) on the mound with one out in the fourth.

Zammarelli suffered his second loss of the tournament as he allowed four runs on five hits and two walks after Haskell got the first four outs. Coscione and freshman Patrick Colvin (Lenoxdale, Mass.) teamed up for the next 2.2 frames before sophomore Justin Webb (San Diego, Calif.) and freshman Zach Handzel (Palmer, Mass.) tossed scoreless, one-hit ball over the final two innings. Webb struck out two of the three batters he faced.