Newton, MA - The Lasell Lasers split their home opening doubleheader against the AMCATS of Anna Maria, dropping game one 9-7 and winning game two 11-2. The Lasers are now 8-7 on the season and 3-1 in GNAC play. The AMCATS are 8-10 and 3-1.
Game One -
The AMCATS came out firing, as they took a lead immediately on a lead off homer. They would then continue to add to their lead over the next few innings, scoring twice in the second, twice in the third, and grew their lead to 6-0 in the fourth. But the Lasers did now just go away. Connor Freitas led the bottom of the fourth off with a triple, and then scored on a Matthew Bischof ground out. Sticking to the same formula, Matthew Paharik led off the fifth with a triple, and then came home on a Christopher Bulk sacrifice fly. After Anna Maria struck back with three runs in the sixth, the Lasers answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. They then made things interesting, as they scored two runs on a Matthew Bischof single. But they were unable to tie things up, and fell 9-7.
Of the Lasers' eight hits, Connor Freitas and Bryan Baumann each had two. Also reaching base twice was Jared Whitvy as he walked twice. The Lasers used four pitchers, starting with Darek Lallo. Lallo went the first 2.1 innings, allowing six hits and five earned runs. He was saddled with the loss. He was relieved by Jason Giangrande, who went 1.2 innings allowing two hits and one earned run. After hit was Owen Caldwell. Caldwell allowed two hits and three unearned runs in an inning of work. The final pitcher was Pierce Clare, he pitched two hitless innings and struck out two.
Game Two
Similar to game one, the AMCATS got out to the lead, scoring twice in the third. But the Lasers responded immediately, and cut the lead in half with a CJ Mills RBI single in the bottom half of the inning. This was the first of six consecutive innings where the Lasers scored. They then scored twice in the fourth with RBI singles from Ross Audet and Matthew Paharik, giving Lasell the 3-2 lead. In the fifth, it was a Connor Freitas RBI single to drive in a run. The sixth was a big inning for the Lasers, as they scored four. After the first two batters got out, the Lasers two out rally began with a pair of walks from Paharik and Christopher Bulk. Paharik then scored on a wild pitch on ball four to CJ Mills, with Bulk moving to third. Bulk then scored on an errant pick off attempt that moved Mills to third. Mills then scored on an RBI single by Tim Callahan, who later scored on a Connor Freitas RBI single, extending the Laser lead to 8-2. Another run scored in the seventh on a wild pitch. The Lasers nearly walked it off in the eighth after a two RBI single by Ross Audet. He got to second with a stolen base, but was unable to score a what would have been a 10 run rule enforcing run. But the Lasers were able to take the game after a shutdown ninth, winning 11-2.
After getting their offense going towards the end of the first game, the Lasers exploded for 12 hits in game two. Tim Callahan and Connor Freitas each picked up three of those, while Ross Audet had two. Seven different hitters had a hit, while eight scored a run. The Lasers sent their ace Matthew Fletcher to the mound, and he pitched like it. Over six innings, he allowed just four hits and two earned runs, while striking out 11. He was relieved by Ethan Bernardo who went two innings and struck out one. Next, and pulling double duty having pitched in game one, was Pierce Clare. He went one inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.
Up Next - The Lasers will have a quick turnaround, as they head on the road to take on Albertus Magnus in a conference doubleheader on Monday, April 3rd. Those games will start at 4pm.