FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Lasell College baseball team split a doubleheader against St. Joseph's College-Long Island Friday afternoon and evening in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic at Terry Park, winning the first game 4-1 before falling in the nightcap, 6-5.

Junior Zach Handzel (Palmer, Mass.) pitched a complete-game victory for the Lasers in the opener. The Golden Eagles rallied from a 4-1 deficit to take the second game, 6-5. The split leaves Lasell with a 7-3 overall record, while St. Joseph's is now 2-1.

Lasell wraps up its nine-game Florida trip Saturday morning at 9 a.m. against Edgewood College (Wisconsin).

Game 1 – Lasell 4, St. Joseph's (L.I.) 1

Handzel allowed just one run on five singles and a walk in seven innings, striking out four to improve his record to 2-1 on the season. He retired the side in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings en route to the victory.

Lasell scored all four of their runs in the first inning. Senior Evan Michalek (Berlin, Conn.) led off with a double and classmate David Marsell (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) followed with a single. Michalek scored on a wild pitch and Marsell came home on an infield error. Sophomores Sean Doris (Lincoln, R.I.) and senior Zach Herring (Fresno, Calif.) capped the rally with two-out RBI singles. Herring finished with two hits for the Lasers.

The Golden Eagles answered with a run in the top of the second on three straight singles, but Handzel induced an inning-ending double play and shut them down the rest of the way.

Game 2 – St. Joseph's (L.I.) 6, Lasell 5

After St. Joe's scored a run in the bottom of the first, Lasell put up four runs in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. Sophomore Wyatt Sihvonen (Lebanon, Conn.) cracked a two-run double to highlight the rally, and Michalek added an RBI single before Sihvonen came home on a Golden Eagle throwing error.

St. Joe's came back with two in the bottom of the fourth before Lasell tacked on a run in the fifth inning when Michalek walked with the bases loaded. But the Golden Eagles answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning in what proved to be the game-winning rally.

Sihvonen and senior Andre Marchesseault (Cheshire, Conn.) had three hits apiece for Lasell, including a double. Junior Patrick Colvin (Lenoxdale, Mass.) took the loss with a relief effort, falling to 1-1.

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