AMCATS Swept by Lasell in GNAC Twinbill

Newton, Mass (4/9/13) – The Lasell College baseball team earned a sweep of Great Northeast Athletic Conference foe Anna Maria College, winning 10-7 and 5-0 in the contests. Lasell improved to 11-14 overall and 7-5 in conference play while Anna Maria dropped to 13-16 on the season and 7-7 in league action.

In the second game of a Sunday afternoon doubleheader, Lasell College sophomore Greg Sherman (Marshfield, Mass.) made history by throwing the first no-hitter in the history of the Lasers baseball program. Sherman was perfect through the first four innings, opening the fifth inning with a walk to Anna Maria's Justin Hyland (Spencer, Mass.) before retiring the next three batters. Sherman cruised through the sixth and retired the first two batters of the seventh inning on a fly-out to right field and a strikeout. Hyland again came to the plate looking to break up the no-hit bid, and after getting ahead 2-0, Sherman threw consecutive strikes to even the count at 2-2. Hyland lined the two –out offering into left field, where Matt Sammarco (New Canaan, Conn.) charged to make the catch for the final out preserving the no-hitter. Sherman faced 22 hitters, one more than the maximum, throwing an economical 83 pitches, 50 for strikes while striking out five.

Lasell broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth, beginning the inning with single by Corey Michel (Rochester, N.H.) and Evan Mozingo (Brookfield, Conn.) to put runners with one out. A single by Billy Uberti (Newton, Mass.) scored Michel and moved Mozingo to third giving the Lasers a 1-0 lead. Rob Madden (Hingham, Mass.) was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Lasell with one out. A perfectly executed squeeze play courtesy of Dustin Brown (Falmouth, Mass.) scored Mozingo and put the hosts on top 2-0.

Lasell added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double by Michel and a two-run double by Mozingo to push their advantage to 5-0 which became the final margin when Sherman capped off his no-hitter.

Game One:

In contrast to the low scoring second game of the double header, the first game featured a combined 16 runs and 20 hits as the Lasers earned a 10-7 victory.

Bobby Stachura (Middletown, Conn.) went 3 for 3 at the plate for Lasell, notching a double, two singles and four RBI's while Rob Madden added a single and double, three runs scored and one knocked in. Billy Uberti was 1 for 3 at the dish, scoring a pair of runs while knocking in two as well. David Long (Brookfield, Conn.) moved to 4-0 on the year, earning the victory while allowing four runs on seven hits in five innings of work and recording five strikeouts. Kevin Post (Cromwell, Conn.) allowed three runs, two earned in two innings of work to earn the save.

Julian Diaz (Providence, R.I.) had a pair of doubles with two runs driven in for Anna Maria, John Sullivan (Southbury, Conn.) added a single and a double to go with two RBI's and Joe McNeil (Sutton, Mass.) chipped in two singles, a run scored and a run driven in. Lucas Davis (Spencer, Mass.) started for Anna Maria, taking the loss as he yielded seven runs on eight hits in three and two-third innings for the AMCats. Phil Weihn (Clinton, Mass.) went two and a third innings in relief, allowing three runs on three hits while striking out four.

Lasell scored first, using a leadoff double in the second inning by Stachura to get a runner on. Stachura was then sacrificed to third before scoring on an RBI groundout by Wes Hurty (Windsor, Conn.) to put the hosts in front 1-0.

In the bottom of the third a walk to Michel and a one-out single by Madden put runners on first and second bringing Dustin Brown to the plate. Brown doubled, scoring Michel and moving Madden to third base where he eventually scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Stachura to up the Lasell lead to 3-0.

Sullivan opened the top of the fourth inning with a lead-off double for Anna Maria, coming in to score on a one-out double by Diaz to cut the Lasell lead to 3-1. Padraig Gilman (Leominster, Mass.) followed with a RBI single and the AMCats crept within a run at 3-2.

Lasell responded with a four run outburst in the bottom of the fourth inning, despite of opening the inning with a pop-out and a fly-out by their first two hitters. Dan Gagnon (Pomfret Center, Conn.) started the rally with a single, and Corey Michel followed with a single of his own to put runners on the corners. Billy Uberti's double scored both runners, giving the Lasers a 5-2 edge, and when Madden doubled Uberti in the lead grew to 6-2. After a walk to Brown, Stachura singled home Madden to push the margin to 7-2.

Singles by McNeil and Mike Guarnieri (Wallingford, Conn.) put runners on first and second to open the top of the fifth, and Hyland reached on a fielder's choice that retired Guarnieri to give the AMCats runners on the corners with one away. A wild pitch allowed Hyland to advance to second and a single by Sullivan scored both runners, trimming the Lasell lead to 7-4.

Kevin Post relieved Long on the mound for Lasell at the beginning of the sixth inning. Anthony Rissotti (Templeton, Mass.) walked with one out in the top of the sixth for Anna Maria, coming around to score when Kevin Wodatch (Wallingford, Conn.) doubled and advanced to third when the throw to the plate sailed to the backstop to make it 7-5 on the scoreboard. Wodatch came in to score when McNeil reached on an error, but Post induced a rally killing double play groundball to escape the inning with a 7-6 lead.

Lasell regained some breathing room in the bottom of the sixth when they scored three runs, getting a two-run single from Stachura and an RBI single by Matt Sammarco to push their lead up to 10-6.

The AMCats scored once in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by Julian Diaz, but were unable to get closer, falling 10-7.

Lasell will return to the diamond on Tuesday April 16th when they host Becker College in a 7:30 p.m. non-conference game, while Anna Maria will tangle with Clark University in a non-league road match-up on Tuesday April 16th at 5:00 p.m.