Baseball splits season opening twinbill vs. Lakeland

(Fort Myers, Fla.) The Rivier University Baseball program finally escaped the cold dark gymnasiums and opened their 2015 season this morning at the Terry Park Sports Complex in sunny Fort Myers, Florida. The team came out swinging in game one as they were able to hold onto a wild 9-7 victory before succumbing to the heat and falling in game two, 10-2 against Lakeland College.

Game One: Rivier University 9, Lakeland College 7 (Final)

Junior Edward Soucie (So. Ryegate, Vt.) tossed four innings as he earned his first collegiate win of his career in the opening game. Soucie allowed five runs on six hits over his 4.1 innings before giving way to classmate Spencer Aguiar to escape the tough jam in the fifth.

Offensively, Rivier exploded for nine runs on eleven hits in the game as seniors JJ Montello (Nashua, N.H.) and David Cusack (Newburyport, Mass.) combined to go 6-for-6 with six runs scored. Cusack was able to drive a ball to deep right field for his first home run as a Raider in the 3rd inning, following Montello's first triple of the game.

Sophomore Drew Neely (Lakeland, Fla.) had a 2 RBI single to right field in the first inning to jump start the Rivier offense while junior Jeremy Ball (Swanzey, N.H.) also added a 2 RBI base hit in the contest.

The game got a little dicey in the seventh as Lakeland was able to get the tying to second base before junior Jon Chotkowski (Tewksbury, Mass.) was able to strikeout the final hitter to preserve the win.

Adam Schmitt suffered the loss for Lakeland while both AJ Dollinger and Bryce Skelton had 2-for-3 games.

Game Two: Lakeland College 10, Rivier University 2 (Final)

The second game started off as a pitcher's duel as junior Matthew Keefe (Bradford, Mass.) held Lakeland to just one run over the first three innings. However, the Raider defense hit a bit of a mental lapse in the fifth as they helped Lakeland plate six runs en route to a 10-2 final.

Cusack provided the only offensive production for Rivier as he belted his second home run of the day – a towering fly ball over the fence in right in the sixth inning.

Keefe (0-1) suffered the loss while his counterpart Drew Richard hurled a complete game surrendering just four hits while striking out three.

Rivier will enjoy a day off on Monday before returning to the diamond for a 9am double-header against Defiance College on Tuesday morning over at the Player Development Complex – the former home of the Boston Red Sox.