LAKELAND, Fla. – Sophomore first baseman Ryan Pumphret (Shewsbury, Mass.) tied his career single-game high going four-for-four with three RBIs in a 6-5 comeback win in game one over Colby-Sawyer. Despite another valiant comeback attempt in game two, the Lynx dropped the second game to the Chargers, 11-7.
Game 1: Lesley 6, Colby-Sawyer 5
The Lynx were first to jump on the scoreboard in the early game. Senior third baseman Mike Slaby (Foxborough, Mass.) beat out an infield single back in the direction of the pitcher. He went from first to third when Pumphret pulled a one-out single into leftfield. Lesley was far from done. Junior Justin Clark (Chino Hills, Calif.) drove home Slaby lining base-hit back where it came from to give the Lynx the 1-0 advantage.
It was a short-lived lead as the Chargers were able to get to sophomore right-hander Daniel O'Donnell, Jr. (Clark, N.J.) for five runs over the next two innings. But the Lynx were able to get one run back in the bottom of the third. Pumphret drove in his Slaby for the second time on the day roping another laser into leftfield to cut the deficit to 5-2.
Colby-Sawyer was threatening to add to their three-run lead in the top of the fourth. Sophomore left-hander Colin Reed (Bedford, N.Y.) faced a tall task when he entered to relieve first year right-hander Riley Golden (Irvine, Calif.). But the second year left-hander was up to the challenge, retiring Charger centerfielder Nathan Frongillo on strikes to get out of the inning unscathed.
Getting out of the bases loaded jam shifted momentum for the Lynx as it ignited the offense. First year second baseman Will Rhone (North Haven, Conn.) and sophomore leftfielder Gage Reycroft (Ft. Myers, Fla.) set the table in the bottom of the fourth. The pair opened the inning with back-to-back singles before Rhone came in to score the third Lesley run on an error by the shortstop.
After shortstop Nicholas Ferragine (Randolph, N.J.) reached on a fielder's choice, Slaby recorded his third base-hit of the game, an opposite field double to bring home Cervantes with the fourth run. First year rightfielder Steven DePalma (Albertson, N.Y.) grounded out to second but in the back door came Ferragine to tie up the game at five and knock starter Bobby Madden out of the game.
The Lynx continued to have success against the new Charger pitcher. Pumphret ripped his fourth hit of the game down the third base line to drive in Slaby and take the 6-5 lead. They did not look back pushing across three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a four-run, 9-5 lead.
Reed earned his first victory of the season, tossing 2.1 innings of relief allowing one run on two hits while striking out three Chargers while junior right-hander Nick Iadevaio (Mineola, N.Y.) earned his first save of the year.
Game 2: Colby-Sawyer 11, Lesley 7
In the second game of the day, the Chargers were the ones that jumped out to the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first but it did not last for long. The Lynx took advantage of two Charger errors in the top of the second and batted around to put up a crooked number to take the 4-1 lead.
However Colby-Sawyer had an answer. The Chargers responded by batting around in the home half to push across four runs of their own and knock first year right-hander Andrew Thomas (Arlington, Mass.) out of the game after just 1.2 innings. Two innings later they added two more insurance runs to increase their lead to 7-4 which they would need because the Lynx were not going away.
Trailing by three in the top of the fifth, the Lynx once again took advantage of Charger mistakes in the field. After DePalma reached via a one-out single he remained alive on the base-paths advancing to third on an error by the pitcher before coming in to score the fifth run on a wild pitch. First year leftfielder Matthew Warner (San Diego, Calif.) ripped a double into the left-centerfield gap to close the gap to one run, 7-6, and send Charger starter Andrew Clay to the showers.
A pitching change did not alleviate the Chargers fielding woes. Warner scored the Lynx's seventh run and tie-up the ballgame three batters later.
Colby-Sawyer pushed two runs across in the bottom of the fifth to re-gain lead, 9-7. Lesley threatened to score in the top of the sixth with runners in scoring position and no outs but they were unable to manufacture any runs.
Junior right-hander J.P. Agiorgousis (Hanscom AFB, Mass.) took the loss allowing two runs on two hits with one strikeout in just 1.1 innings of work. The Chargers Ryan Glendye earned his first victory of the season allowing just one hit while striking out two in 2.1 innings of work.
The Lynx break for two days before returning to the diamond on Saturday March 18th for a double-header against D'Youville College. First pitch slated for 9:00 a.m.