Baseball: Lasers grab first win of the season in split with Defiance

Fort Myers, Fla. – The Lasell University Lasers baseball team split their matchup with the Defiance College Yellow Jackets, 6-4 and 7-6, to pick up their first victory of the season Monday morning.

Game 1: Defiance 6 Lasell 4

The Yellow Jackets struck first, scoring with their first at bats of the game. Senior Nate Kaffenbarger (De Graff, Ohio) got Defiance their first run singling through the left side to bring home senior Lucas Thomeier (Wickliffe, Ohio). Sophomore Hunter Bostater (Ney, Ohio) picked up an RBI when he singled to center bringing home senior Alex Morr (Bryan, Ohio). Defiance picked up their third and final run of the first frame on an RBI single by sophomore Trent Murdock (Liberty Center, Ohio), bringing home Kaffenbarger.

Freshman Tyler DiNezza got one back in the bottom half of the inning when he hit a sacrifice fly to left field bringing home sophomore Ross Audet for his first career RBI.

Defiance kept the momentum from the first inning going into the second putting two more runs on the board. They scored their first run following an error on a bunt single by Morr which brought home freshman Tyler Dehan (St. Henry, Ohio). Kaffenbarger grabbed a second RBI of the game when he singled home Thomeier to give the Yellow Jackets a four-run cushion.

Freshman Pierce Clare collected his first career RBI in the bottom of the third inning on a double to left center which brought home DiNezza.

After a quiet fourth inning for both sides, Defiance got one across in the top of the fifth, on a Thomeier single that brought home Murdock.

In the bottom half of the inning the Lasers put up a couple of runs on a single by sophomore CJ Mills which brought home fellow classmate Bryan Baumann and freshman Griffin Ferreira.

The pitching shut down both sides in the final two frames as both sides could only muster one hit in the sixth and seventh inning as Defiance took game one 6-4.

Senior Cohen Nies (Logansport, Ind.) got the win throwing four innings while only giving up one earned run and fellow classmate Kendall Duval (Bissfield, Mich.) got the save throwing two no hit innings. Thomeier led the game with three hits in four at bats. Kaffenbarger, Morr and Murdock all had two hits with Kaffenbarger picking up two RBIs and Murdock collecting one RBI.

Freshman Brendan Zaleski got the loss in his first career start. Graduate Student Jack Snyder pitched three solid innings in relief only giving up one hit. Sophomore Tim Coakley threw two perfect innings to close out the game. Clare and freshman Jordan Martinez led the Lasers with two hits. Mills led the Lasers by driving in two of the four runs the Lasers put on the board.

Game 2: Lasell 7 Defiance 6

Just like game one the Yellow Jackets got on the board with their first at bats, bringing one home on a double by Kaffenbarger.

Lasell did not let the Yellow Jackets keep the lead for long, scoring two runs in their next at bats. Baumann brought home the first to tie the game on a double that scored senior Matthew Bischof. Martinez gave Lasell the lead on a sacrifice fly scoring Clare.

After a scoreless half inning by Defiance, the Lasers kept scoring runs getting the first on an RBI walk by Martinez with the bases loaded. Next up was graduate student Mack Palmer who got an RBI after being hit by a pitch. The Lasers capped off the top of the first by scoring two more following an error by Defiance that scored Martinez and Baumann to give Lasell a 6-1 lead.

The Yellow Jackets clawed a few back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two on a single by Bostater which brought home Kaffenbarger and Morr.

Defiance got more runs in the fifth as Kaffenbarger scored on a passed ball to cut the Laser lead to two. After Kaffenbarger scored during Bostater's at bat, he hit a homerun to right field to score Murdock and tie the game at 6 with two innings to play.

Lasell had the final say on the score line despite the comeback by the Yellow Jackets as in the top of the sixth inning, Ferreira brought in the game winning run on a sacrifice fly that brought home freshman Vaun Larisa. The Laser pitching silenced the Defiance bats through the final two frames to grab the opening victory of 2022 7-6.

Despite throwing a perfect two innings freshman Donovon Galovich (Romeo, Mich.) picked up the loss. Freshman Jeff Varga (Rockford, Mich.) threw two and a third innings only allowing one hit. Bostater led the way on offense for the Yellow Jackets driving in four runs on two hits. Kaffenbarger also collected two hits and came across to score twice as well.

Mills was solid in his start on the mound for the Lasers throwing four innings, striking out eight while only allowing one earned run. Larisa got his first win of his collegiate career in a relief effort throwing two and a third innings of perfect ball while striking out three. Martinez led the Lasers with two RBIs and scored a run. Ferreira, Baumann and Palmer all drove home a run and Bischof led the Lasers with two runs scored.

The Lasers will be back in action on Wednesday, March 16, when they take on Division II St. Michael's College at 12:00 p.m.

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