BSB: Lasers Ninth Inning Rally Comes Up Short

Photo Credit - Matt Johnson
Photo Credit - Matt Johnson

Bridgewater, MA - The Lasell Lasers Baseball team took on the Bridgewater State Bears in a non-conference midweek match up on Thursday. The Bears would take the win by a final of 10-8. The Lasers are now 7-6 on the season while the Bears are 10-5.

In a game where at least one run was scored in all but one inning, the Lasers got on the board first when the reigning GNAC Player of the Week Matthew Bischof hit an RBI double to centerfield. The Lasers then doubled their lead in the second on a Devon Lapierre single. The Lasers once again plated a run in the third, this time on a ground out. After a scoreless fourth, the Bears tied things up in the fifth after a pair of RBI hits and a ground out. But the Lasers retook the lead immediately, scoring twice in the sixth. The first came on a Jared Whitby sacrifice fly, while the second came on an Owen Caldwell RBI single, putting the Lasers up 5-3. The Bears cut the lead to one in the bottom half of the inning. The Bears then took their first lead of the game in the seventh, scoring two runs after loading the bases with three singles. They then added four more runs in the eighth to make it 10-5. But Lasell did not go down without a fight. They loaded the bases in the ninth, and scored on a Jared Whitby walk. Then a Tyler DiNezza pinch hit single knocked in another run. A fielder's choice by Griffin Ferreira plated another run, and put the tying run on base, but the Lasers were unable to tie things up, falling 10-8.

As a team, the Lasers had 11 hits, with Ross Audet, Owen Caldwell, and Griffin Ferreira each collecting two. The Lasers sent Brendan Zaleski to the mound to start the game, and he went 4.1 innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs. He struck out seven and walked just two. He was relieved by Pierce Clare, who went 1.2 innings allowing just one hit and an earned run while striking out two. Next up out of the bullpen was CJ Mills. Mills pitched 1.1 innings and allowed three hits and four runs, three of which were earned. He also struck out two. The final two pitchers were Tim Coakley and Joseph Ford. They each pitched 0.1 innings, and Coakley allowed a hit and two earned runs. Despite the defense committing six errors, all but one of the runs given up by the Lasell pitching staff were earned.

Up next - The Lasers will return to conference play on Sunday, April 2nd when they host their home opener against Anna Maria at 12pm. That will be the first game of a doubleheader.