FORT MYERS, Fla. (3/19/14) – The Lasell College baseball team split a pair of games against Knox College in their final games of their southern trip, winning 1-0 in the opener before falling 9-7 in the second game. Lasell went 4-4 on the trip and stand at 4-6 overall as they head back North for the remainder of the season.
Game One – Lasell 1 – Knox 0
Eric Howard and Ryan Bowen combined for a five-hit shutout for Lasell with Howard earning the win and Bowen closing out the game to get credited with the save. Howard tossed five and a third innings, allowing three hits and two walks while fanning three before giving way to Bowen. Bowen struck out a pair while giving up two hits over the final inning and two-thirds for Lasell. Dan Gagnon had a pair of singles and scored the lone run for Lasell, Hector Coscione singled and doubled while driving in the Lasell run and Chris Pittman added a pair of singles.
After Knox went down in order in the top of the first, Gagnon lead off the Lasell half of the inning with a single and Coscione doubled to drive him in. Lasell stranded a pair in the bottom of the second but Howard kept the Knox bats silent until the fifth inning. Knox started a two-out rally with a single and a walk but Howard escaped the jam to keep the shutout intact.
Knox started the top of the sixth with a walk and with one out added a second base-runner on a Lasell error as Howard gave way to Bowen. Bowen struck out the first batter he faced but allowed a single with two outs to load the bases before inducing an inning-ending fly out to squash the threat.
Bowen again battled trouble in the top of the sixth allowing a lead-off single to Cody Boal for Knox whoo went to second on a sacrifice bunt and moving to third on a passed ball with one out. Bowen struck out the next hitter before stranding the tying runner on third when he got an infield popup to seal the win.
Game Two – Knox 9 – Lasell 7
The Lasers scored seven runs on 11 hits but their late rally wasn't enough to overcome six errors and allowing eight walks in the contest. Wes Hurty had a single and a double with two runs and one knocked in for Lasell, Hector Coscione singled and doubled as well scoring once and driving in a pair. Billy Uberti had a pair of singles and a walk for the Lasers to go with one scored and one batted in. Brendan Jordan took the loss for Lasell, allowing three runs, none earned in three innings of work on one hit and four walks with a pair of strikeouts. Dan Berger allowed five runs, four earned on a pair of hits and two walks and Aaron Catarina allowed one earned run while striking out two in an inning of work.
Knox got on the board first with a run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning, and nearly added more in the second but Jordan wriggled out of a bases loaded jam. A walk and two errors in the bottom of the third allowed Knox to take a 3-0 lead before Lasell got on the board. Coscione singled and stole second, eventually coming in to score on a Billy Uberti single to cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth.
Knox used three hits, a walk and a Lasell error to tack up a five run bottom of the fourth inning to take an 8-1 lead. Lasell came back with three runs in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Matt Haskell and a two-run double from Coscione to make it an 8-4 ballgame. Knox added a run in the bottom of the fifth to push their lead back to 9-4 but Lasell wouldn't go away. An RBI double by Hurty followed by a two-run single from Brandon Valentin cut the Lasers deficit to 9-7 but Lasell was unable to draw closer taking the loss.