BSB: Lasers Drop Pitcher's Duel in GNAC Playoffs; Will Play Saturday

Newton, MA - The Lasell Lasers Baseball team fell to the Anna Maria AMCATS on Thursday by a final score of 4-1. The Loss drops the Lasers to 22-15 on the season, and moves them to the Loser's bracket of the GNAC Tournament. The AMCATS are now 21-18.

Two of the best pitchers in the GNAC faced off in Anthony Pingeton and Matthew Fletcher, and runs were hard to come by. The AMCATS threatened in the first, but Fletcher got out of a jam with a strikeout to end the inning. The AMCATS would score in the third after a pair of errors, but the Lasers responded immediately with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Tim Callahan got things going with a triple, and then scored on a Connor Freitas sacrifice fly. Almost immediately, Anna Maria would retake the lead, as an RBI double in the fourth gave them a 2-1 lead. Pingeton would then take over, retiring 12 of the next 14 batters. The AMCATS would extend their lead with a two run homer in the ninth before closing things out to take the 4-1 win.

The Lasers relied on their offense all season, but were unable to get anything going against the stellar AMCATS pitching. Of the five Laser hits, Tim Callahan and Connor Freitas each had two, with the other Lasell hit coming from Pierce Clare. Matthew Fletcher pitched seven innings, and allowed just four hits and two runs, both of which were unearned. He struck out nine and walked just one. Jason Giangrande would pitch the final two innings, and allowed four hits and two runs while striking out two.

Up Next - The Lasers will face Elms in an elimination game on Saturday at 10:30am at JWU.