Baseball: Rivier drops tough GNAC twinbill at Lasell

Story Courtesy of Lasell Sports Information

(Waltham, Mass.) It was a tale of two games for the Lasell College baseball team Monday, as it posted 2-0 and 13-12 victories to earn a doubleheader sweep against the Raiders of Rivier University in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action at Stein Diamond.

Senior Casey Johnson (Windsor, Conn.) pitched his second complete game of the season to open the day for the Lasers, while sophomore second baseman David Marsell (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) hit an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to center field to seal the nightcap.

Lasell improves to 10-11 on the season and 6-2 in GNAC play with its third and fourth consecutive victories, while Rivier slips to 1-21 overall and remains winless in the conference with an 0-8 mark.

Game 1: Lasell College 2, Rivier University 0 (Final)

The Lasers scored the only two runs they needed in the first inning and managed just four total hits off Rivier freshman Ryan Schaefer (Everett, Mass.), who struck out five and walked four over six innings of four-hit, two-run ball.

Sophomore third baseman Andre Marchesseault (Cheshire, Conn.) drove in Lasell's only two runs of the game with a one-out single to the left side in the first, scoring senior shortstop Hector Coscione (Newton, Mass.) and graduate right fielder Skylar Beckerman (Pensacola, Fla.) who walked and reached on a fielder's choice, respectively.

Johnson went the distance and faced just five batters over the minimum 21 en route to Lasell's fourth shutout victory of the season. The Raiders recorded six hits in the ballgame, with junior second baseman Tyler Ferdinand (Middleboro, Mass.) and designated hitter Drew Neely (Lakeland, Fla.) each going 2-for-3.

Rivier had at least one runner on base in each inning, including one in the seventh, but a double play ball and a fielder's choice got Johnson out of the seventh and a last-inning threat.

Game 2: Lasell College 13, Rivier University 12 (Final/8 inn.)

Things were much different in the nightcap as the Lasers posted 14 hits and endured Rivier's three multi-run innings and first 10-run effort of the season to earn the victory.

The visitors erased an 8-6 deficit with a five-run sixth inning, only to see Lasell answer with four runs of its own. After a seventh-inning run tied the game once again, the Lasers won in their first extra at-bat after the first three runners reached base and Beckerman scored the winning run on Marsell's career-high fifth RBI of the ballgame.

Marsell and sophomore catcher Robert Cutone (Tewksbury, Mass.) each went 3-for-4 in the game, while Coscione and Beckerman posted two hits apiece. All of Cutone's hits were doubles. Beckerman scored four runs, while Marsell added one and junior shortstop Jesse Tejero (West Haven, Conn.) drove in two.

The teams traded three-run, three-hit innings with the Raiders taking a first-inning lead and the Lasers answering back in their half of the second.

Rivier tagged Coscione with three singles in the opening frame, but Tejero rolled a run-scoring grounder to shortstop in the second to open Lasell's scoring in the second before Cutone doubled in the next at-bat with two outs and scored on sophomore center fielder Evan Michalek's (Berlin, Conn.) single to left.

The Raiders scored three more in the third before Coscione was pulled as junior center fielder Jonathan De La Cruz (Haverhill, Mass.) hit a one-out triple to center and scored on senior first baseman Jacob Rayner's (Billerica, Mass.) first home run of the season.

Again, the Lasers put up a crooked number with four runs on three hits in the back half of the third. Coscione, who would move into the designated hitter's slot, led off the inning with a double and scored as Marchesseault singled to center. Marsell scored two more with a single to center, while Tejero's sac fly to center brought Marchesseault home.

Lasell added a single run in the fifth to take an 8-4 lead as junior first baseman Dom Mascolo (Waterbury, Conn.) scored Beckerman, who doubled and advanced to third on an error, with a sac fly to center.

The Raiders circled the lineup in the sixth, scoring five runs with two outs. Freshman shortstop Brendan Sullivan (Manchester, N.H.) opened the inning's scoring with a two-run single to right field, while Ferdinand scored on a passed ball after he was intentionally walked.

After a passed ball moved Sullivan to second, De La Cruz singled to right and senior designated hitter Adam Arkell (Dover, N.H.) hit a double to left off senior Frank Zammarelli (Burrillville, R.I.), who relieved classmate Matt Haskell (Wallingford, Conn.). De La Cruz and Sullivan each posted three hits, scored three times, and drove in three runs for Rivier.

Lasell scored four times on five hits in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to a Valentin sac fly, Beckerman single to center and another two-run knock from Marsell.

Ferdinand drove in a run in the seventh to send the game to extras, but Marsell's sac fly and freshman Lorenzo Davis' (West Haven, Conn.) two innings of no-hit ball ensured Lasell the victory. Davis fanned two and allowed just one baserunner, earning his first collegiate win.

The Lasers step out of GNAC play for three games this week, first traveling to Joe Wolfe Field in North Adams, Mass., for a Wednesday, April 19 doubleheader with MCLA that begins at 3:00 p.m. It is a quick turnaround for the Raiders as they return to Historic Holman Stadium to host Lesley on Tuesday, April 18 at 7:05 p.m.