FORT MYERS, Fla. (3/16/17) -- The Lasell College baseball team earned its first win of the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic on Thursday, splitting a pair of one-run ballgames with the Warriors of Wisconsin Lutheran College at Terry Park.
The Lasers suffered a 7-6 setback in the first game before senior Hector Coscione (Newton, Mass.) tossed five strikeouts in a seven-inning complete game to down the Warriors, 3-2.
Lasell enters its lone off day in Florida with a 3-4 record, while WLC is also 3-4.
Game 1: Wisconsin Lutheran 7, Lasell 6
Both sides got off to a quick start, but a three-run first inning lifted the Warriors to a 4-1 lead after two. The Lasers scored the game's first run in the top of the first as Coscione drew a one-out walk, stole second, advanced to third, and scored on sophomore third baseman Andre Marchesseault's (Cheshire, Conn.) two-out single to left field.
Senior Matt Haskell (Wallingford, Conn.) would leave the game after allowing five hits and four runs over 1.1 innings, but sophomore Justin Webb (San Diego, Calif.) brought Lasell through the third without any further damage.
The Lasers manufactured a run without the benefit of a hit in the third as Coscione reached on a throwing error to begin the frame, moved to second on a wild pitch by WLC freshman starter Ben Veenstra (Evansville, Wis.) and scored on back-to-back passed balls. However, the Warriors answered with three unearned runs on just one hit off sophomore Brian Lindenmeier (Holtsville, N.Y.) in the bottom half of the following frame.
Lasell scored four, two-out runs in the fifth to move within one. Veenstra quickly retired the first two Lasers he faced in the fifth before junior first baseman Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) walked, Marchesseault reached on a fielder's choice and sophomore designated hitter Brett Sherron (Howard Beach, N.Y.) singled to load the bases.
After Mascolo scored on a wild pitch, senior left fielder Brandon Valentin (Meriden, Conn.) walked to load the bases again and sophomore catcher Robert Cutone (Tewksbury, Mass.) cleared them with a three-run triple.
Marchesseault and Cutone finished the contest with two hits apiece, while Coscione scored twice.
The Lasers posted a pair of hits in each of the last two innings after freshmen Lorenzo Davis (West Haven, Conn.) and Patrick Colvin (Lenoxdale, Mass.) combined for 2.2 scoreless frames out of the bullpen, but freshman Noah Schriefer (San Diego, Calif.) struck out two in the seventh to lock down his third save of the year for the Warriors.
Game 2: Lasell 3, Wisconsin Lutheran 2
The teams combined for just ten hits in the back half of the doubleheader, and the Lasers overcame five errors for the victory as Coscione allowed just five hits and a walk to finish what he started.
Sophomore second baseman Greg Camarda (Massapequa, N.Y.) got the Lasers on the board first with a sacrifice fly to center field in the second inning that scored Marchesseault. The teams posted back-to-back scoreless frames until the Warriors tied the game with a two-out RBI single in the fifth.
Lasell responded quickly with a two-run, two-hit bottom of the fifth. Coscione walked and stole second before moving to third on Valentin's single to left field and scoring as graduate right fielder Skylar Beckerman (Pensacola, Fla.) stroked a two-run single up the middle.
The Warriors got a run back in the sixth, but Coscione retired the side in four batters in the seventh to close the victory.
Marchesseault has hit safely in six of the season's first seven games, with multiple hits in four of them. He leads the Lasers with a .480 average after going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI in the doubleheader.
Lasell returns to action on Saturday, March 18 for a pair of games against the Royals of Bethel University (Minn.) beginning at 12:00 p.m. WLC rounds out its Florida swing on Friday, March 17, facing Dubuque at 8:00 a.m. and Bethel at 11:00 a.m.