BOSTON, Mass. – In one of the coldest season openers in recent memory, Baseball overcame the elements to earn a hard fought 11-6 non-conference win over Lasell College Thursday afternoon at Monan Park.

THE BASICS

UMass Boston 11, Lasell College 6

UMass Boston (1-0)
Lasell College (0-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED

With wind gusts exceeding 40 MPH for most of the afternoon, UMass Boston had to find a way to win to get their 2017 season off to the right start. 

Senior catcher Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.) played a major part in the victory as he connected for a pair of triples in four at-bats.  He drove in one run, and accounted for two of the Beacons 11 runs.  The Beacons also used aggressive base running throughout the frigid contest to score at-least one run in three of the first four innings. 

After the Lasers got a run in the top half of the first inning, the Beacons responded with a pair of runs in the second and third innings.  They then exploded in the fourth with five runs to counter Lasell's two in the top half of the inning. 

In their breakout fourth inning, Dan Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.) started the scoring off on an RBI single which plated Nick Herzog (Riverhead, N.Y.).  After a Dave Murphy (Plymouth, Mass.) sac-fly to left field, which scored Joey Rogers (Dighton, Mass.), Kyle Boudrias (Medford, Mass.) made it a four-run ball game (7-3) on an RBI single through the right side.

Searles would then unleash his first triple of the day to score Boudrias.  Moments later Chris Fowler (Barnstable, Mass.) closed out the Beacons offensive surge with an RBI single up the middle, which plated Searles. 

Comfortably in the driver's seat, the Beacons held the Lasers scoreless in the top half of the fifth.  Unfortunately, Lasell made things a little more interesting in the sixth when they scored three runs to make it 9-6.  Neither team would score a run in the seventh.  In the eighth, Dean College transfer Kyle Carvello (Braintree, Mass.) shut down Lasell's bats to keep the Beacons lead intact. 

In the bottom half of the eighth UMB once again jumped to a more than comfortable lead as they put-up two runs thanks to bases loaded walk to Luke Nagle (Pembroke, Mass.) and a wild pitch, which scored Murphy.

In the ninth the Beacons turned to Bobby Tramondozzi (Peabody, Mass.) to close out the game, which he did in dominating fashion.  He would allow just one hit, but struck out two in his first appearance of 2017.

Fernando Burgos (Hyde Park, Mass.) collected the victory, after going 3.2 innings.  The righty allowed three runs on four hits, but did have three of the team's nine K's.  Mantoni started off the afternoon and went 3.1, and also had three K's.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Thursday's win marked the second straight season opening win for the Beacons
• UMass Boston is now 5-1 all-time against Lasell College
• Their 11 wins against the Lasers marked the third most runs scored, and the most since they tacked on 19 runs in their 2011 win
• On the day both teams recorded 12 hits, with Lasell charged with four errors
• Mantoni, Boudrias, and Herzog all went 2-for-5 and combined for four runs scored and two RBI respectively

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will host Brandeis University on Monday at 3 p.m.