YAPHANK, N.Y. (3/1/14) – The Lasell College baseball team suffered a pair of losses in their season opening doubleheader against Worcester State, falling 5-2 in game one and 5-4 in the second game of the twinbill. Lasell is 0-2 on the season while Worcester State improves to 2-0 for the campaign.
Game One
Kevin Post went 2-3 at the plate for Lasell with a single and a solo homerun, Billy Uberti was 1-2 with a single and sacrifice fly, while Dan Gagnon added a pair of singles and a run scored for the Lasers. Rob Madded, Wes Hurty and Hector Coscione each added a pair of singles for Lasell in the loss. Kevin Post started on the hill for Lasell, going two innings and allowing two runs on two hits and four walks while striking out one. Ryan Bowen tossed five innings of relief for the Lasers, giving up three runs on four hits and one walk while fanning one and getting credited with the loss.
Worcester opened the game with two walks and got on the board first when Adam Barry drove in Steve Wallace with an RBI single. Gagnon and Madden opened with back-to-back singles and Bobby Ellard was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs for Lasell in the bottom of the first inning. Uberti drove in Gagnon with a sacrifice fly tying the game at 1-1, but a double play groundout ended the Lasers threat.
A single and a walk put two on with nobody out for WSU in the top of the 2nd inning and a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third with one away. Nick Gikas came in to score on a sacrifice bunt by Steve Wallace, putting the Lancers back in front 2-1. Kevin Post tied the game in the bottom of the second inning with his first homerun of his career on a drive over the left-centerfield fence.
Joe Carlier was hit by a pitch to open the third and a double by Adam Barry put runners on second and third with nobody out. Consecutive run scoring groundouts by Joe Kasper and Gikas gave WSU a 4-2 lead that Lasell was unable to rally from while the Lancers tacked on one more in the top of the 4th on a Dennis Duplessis home run.
Game Two
Kevin Post went 3-3 on the day with a trio of singles and a walk for Lasell, Brandon Valentin added a single, double and a walk with three runs batted in and Billy Uberti finished 2-4 with two singles and a run scored. Rob Madden went three innings in his first start for the Lasers, allowing three runs with one earned on six hits and two walks. Aaron Catarina took the loss in relief for Lasell, yielding a pair of runs on four hits and three walks in three innings of work.
Dan Gagnon opened the game with a walk for Lasell, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout by Madden. Gagnon scored on a single by Bobby Ellard, and when Uberti followed with a single Lasell had runners on first and second with one out. Kevin Post walked to load the bases for Lasell, and after Hector Coscione popped out, Valentin singled to drive in Ellard and give Lasell a 2-0 lead.
Madden worked out of a two on and one out jam to keep the Lancers off the board in the bottom of the first, and the Lasers were unable to score in the top of the second inning.
Worcester State got three runs in the bottom of the second inning, scoring a run on a Lasell throwing error, another on an RBI single and a third run on a double steal with two outs to take a 3-2 lead. Laslel evened the score at 3-3 in the top of the 3rd courtesy of a Valentin RBI double that plated Coscione.
Lasell went in front in the top of the 5th inning, using a pair of singles and an error to load the bases with nobody out. A walk to Valentin forced in Uberti, but a strikeout, pop out and line out ended the threat without any more damage from Lasell.
Adam Barry led off the bottom of the 5th with a triple for WSU, scoring when Rob MacDonald singled to right centerfield. MacDonald scored on a bases loaded groundout by Steve Wallace to allow WSU to take a 5-4 lead. Lasell went down in order in the sixth inning and were unable to take advantage of a lead-off single by Post in the 7th, falling 5-4.
Lasell will host Newbury on March 11th at 7:00 p.m. before they head south for their spring break trip to Fort Myers, Fla.