Providence, R.I. (4/24/16) – The Lasell baseball team nearly earned a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) sweep against Johnson and Wales University on Saturday afternoon at the Scotts Miracle Gro Athletic Complex. The Lasers took down the Wildcats 6-1 in game one, before taking the hosts to 11 innings in a 4-3 setback. The Lasers shift to 16-14 this season and 7-5 in the GNAC, while the Wildcats move to 19-13 on this year and 6-6 in league play.
Senior Wes Hurty (Windsor, Conn.) highlighted the day in game one, when he singled up the middle in the sixth inning for his 100th career hit.
Game One: Lasell 6 Johnson and Wales 1
Joining Hurty on a 2-for-4 performance at the plate was classmate Tyler Flaherty (Portland, Maine) and junior Hector Coscione (Newton, Mass.). Coscione knocked two home while freshman Evan Michalek (Berlin, Conn.) and seniors Dan Gagnon (Pomfret, Conn.), Skylar Beckerman (Pensacola, Fla.) and Hurty recorded a single ribbie.
Senior Gary Trottier (Rehoboth, Mass.) pitched a complete game for the win as he scattered just three hits and one run while striking out two batters. Keith Grant suffered the loss for JWU, allowing six runs (all earned) over 5.2 innings.
The Lasers tacked on single consecutive runs in the second, third, and fourth as Flaherty crossed home twice while Beckerman drove in Coscione. The Wildcats cracked the zero on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth when Carlos Sanabria singled to right field to score Dave Matthews.
In the top of the sixth, sophomore Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) worked his way to second following a deep single to left before Michalek was pegged by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Coscione the added two runs of insurance with a bases clearing double for the 5-1 advantage. After a pitching change for the Wildcats, Hurty swung into his milestone hit up the middle to score Coscione for the 6-1 final.
Game Two: Johnson and Wales 4 Lasell 3 (11 Innings)
Coscione, Flaherty, and junior Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.) added two hits a piece with Gagnon and Flaherty knocking in one run each. Valentin, who added a triple in the effort, joined Gagnon and Hurty as the run scorers for Lasell.
Lasell freshman starter Dan Petr (East Haven, Conn.) tossed nine innings and allowed seven hits and three earned runs before junior Matt Haskell (Wallingford, Conn.) suffered the extra-innings loss. Of the four-deep bullpen, Hayden Couture earned the victory on 2.0 innings pitched with a single strikeout.
The Wildcats led the Lasers 2-0 – via a balk and sac fly by Ballinger – until the top of the sixth inning when Lasell strung together a two-run rally to tie it up. On a messy showing by the JWU defense, a handful of errors juiced the bases for Flaherty, but a wild pitch first sent a speedy Gagnon home to trail the hosts 2-1. Flaherty singled trough the left side to bring Hurty in for the 2-2 stalemate that was soon spoiled by a single up the middle from JWU's Andrew Hunton. With one out in their last regular at bats, Gagnon cracked an RBI double to left center, scoring Valentin on the play to force extra innings.
Three innings passed before the Lasers went down in the top of the 11th leaving one on base before Mark Kerwin scored Jordan Pilarski from first on a single to right center.
The Lasers will return to Stein Diamond on Thursday, April 27 when they host Eastern Nazarene in honor of the 2016 graduating seniors with first pitched slated for 7:00 p.m.