NEW LONDON, Conn. – The third-seeded Lesley University baseball team saw their historic season come to a close this afternoon following an 8-2 setback to fourth-seeded Elms College on day two of the New England Collegiate Conference Baseball Championship. The Lynx, who qualified for the tournament for the first time in program history, end their season at 10-17 overall after finishing with a program-best 9-9 record in regular season league play.

The Lesley offense ran into a buzz saw as Elms College received a historic outing from sophomore pitcher Tom Weldon (Springfield, Mass.) who set a Blazers single-game record with 13 strikeouts. Weldon allowed just two runs on six hits and walked four batters to improve to 3-4 on the season.

Lesley plated the first run of the contest in the top of the second inning when Tyler Plourd (Canton, Conn.) delivered an RBI single through the left side of the infield plating Joe Muratore (Mamoroneck, N.Y.) who singled earlier in the inning.

Elms responded with three runs in the bottom of the third on the strength of a two-run double by Dreher who later scored on a wild pitch to give the Blazers a 3-1 lead.

Elms added to its lead in the bottom of the fifth when Farnsworth drove in sophomore shortstop Nolan Medeiros (Taunton, Mass.) with a sacrifice fly before senior right fielder Alex King (Lebanon, Conn.) drove in the fifth run on a base hit to center field to set the score at 5-1.

An RBI single to right field by Dreher extended the advantage to 6-1 in the bottom of the sixth, before Muratore scored on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth to pull the Lynx to within four at 6-2.

The Blazers put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth when Medeiros drove in Wadja with a single through the left side followed by a sacrifice fly off the bat of Farnsworth to set the score at 8-2.

Elms' junior reliever Sean Sinnott (Granby, Conn.) entered for Weldon in the ninth and pitched a scoreless frame to seal the win.

Muratore was 3 for 4 with two runs scored for Lesley in the losing effort, while Plourd, Casey Blanchard (Bernardston, Mass.), Kevin Hopwood (Winter Haven, Fla.), and Mike Slaby (Foxboro, Mass.) each had a hit.

Ryan Genua (Prospect, Conn.) suffered the loss on the hill for the Lynx after pitching six innings to move to 3-3 on the season. Genua, who pitched the first game in Lynx history, leaves the program as the all-time leader in wins, innings pitched, complete games, strikeouts, pitching appearances, and games started.