Rochdale, Mass. – The Lasell College baseball team dropped a back and forth affair to the Hawks of Becker College, 10-9. The Lasers are 10-21 on the season, while Becker moved to 15-12.
Lasell opened the game with five hits and four runs in the top of the first inning to get on the board first. Three straight singles, by Matt Mahoney (Rockland, Mass.), Billy Uberti (Newon, Mass.) and Conor Cavanagh (Quincy, Mass.) loaded the bases with one out. A fielder's choice by Bobby Stachura (Middleown, Conn.) drove in the first run of the inning, a second scored when Jacob Salkovitz (Brockton, Mass.) reached on an error, and after a Kevin Post (Cromwell, Conn.) single loaded the bases, Cory Mitchell (Rocland, Mass.) roped a single to right field driving in a pair.
Becker responded with three hits of their own, scoring three runs to cut the Lasell lead to 4-3. Lasell tacked on another run in the top of the second, using back-to-back singles by Mahoney and Cavanagh to put runners on the corners, and Mahoney scored on a wild pitch.
The Hawks scored four runs on three hits in the bottom of the second inning to take a 7-5 lead. Lasell cooled off offensively, failing to score again until the sixth inning, while Becker added a run in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead 8-5.
The Lasers opened the top of the sixth inning with Kevin Post drawing a walk and a single by Corey Mitchell to put two on with nobody out. Dan Mickens (Montclair, N.J.) nearly beat out a bunt, but succeeded in moving the runners to second and third with one out. Josh Sullivan (Rockand, Mass.) followed with an RBI single scoring Post and a sacrifice fly from Mahoney pulled Lasell within one at 8-7.
Becker pushed their lead to 10-7 by scoring a pair in the bottom of the seventh, but the visitors came right back. Sullivan reached on a single, and scored when Becker misplayed a Mahoney groundball allowing the senior to move all the way to third base. Mahoney then tagged and scored on a sacrifice fly by Uberti to bring the Lasers deficit back to a single run.
Vinny Romano (Yonkers, N.Y.) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Lasell, giving them one more chance to tie the game. It was not to be, and Lasell dropped their 21st game of the year despite tallying nine runs on 11 hits.
Brendan Jordan (Rocky Hill, Conn.) took the loss for Lasell. He went four innings, giving up nine hits while allowing 8 runs only three of which were earned. Keon Jenkins picked up the win for Becker, scattering 10 hits in six innings and yielding seven runs, four earned.
Lasell will return to action on Wednesday April 18th when they travel to Rivier for a GNAC twinbill beginning at 5:00pm.