BOSTON, Mass. – The Norwich University baseball team suffered a sweep at the hands of Lasell College in GNAC regular season play on Saturday.

Lasell got a strong pitching performance from junior Casey Johnson (seven innings, seven hits, one run five strikeouts) to take game one 3-1 and took a wild, back-and-forth affair 5-4 in eight innings in game two.

In game one the Lasers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first before the Cadets tied it 1-1 in the top of the second.

Junior Matt Sirois (Southington, Conn.) ledoff the second with a single and was followed by a single by sophomore Drew Caldwell (Hanover, Mass.) to put runners on first and second. Two outs later junior Kyle Lamorey (Northfield, Vt.) delivered an RBI single through the right side of the infield to score Sirois and tie the game.

Lasell retook the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the second. 

Junior Kyle Farquharson (South Ryegate, Vt.) took the loss to fall to 0-5 on the season. He pitched all six innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits and one walk. He struck out five batters.

Freshman Mike Lesco (Somers, Conn.), junior Tim Haggerty (Medfield, Mass.) and freshman Jacob Barlow (Newburyport, Mass.) all delivered hits in the loss. Caldwell finished with two hits.

In game two Lasell jumped out to an early lead again, scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning and taking a 1-0 lead.

Norwich tied the game in the top of the second after Sirois delivered a one-out double. One out later senior John Flanagan (West Groton, Mass.) doubled to left centerfield, scoring Sirois and knotting the game 1-1.

The Lasers retook the lead 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the fourth before the Cadets staged a rally in the top of the sixth. 

Caldwell delivered an RBI groundout, scoring Lesco from third base to tie the game. Flanagan then reached on an error that allowed Haggerty to score and gave the Cadets their first lead of the day at 3-2.

Lasell knotted the game at 3 in the bottom of the sixth before Norwich took the lead right back in the top of the seventh.

Lamorey ledoff the inning with a single and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Kevin Lynch (Randolph, Mass.). One out later junior Brandon Pedley (Northfield, Vt.) stepped to the plate and delivered a clutch RBI double to right centerfield that plated Lamorey and made it 4-3.

The Lasers came back in the last of the seventh after senior Brian Baker (Keene, N.H.) hit back-to-back batters with one out followed by an RBI single by senior Skyler Beckerman. Baker recovered and struck out two of the final three batters to force extra innings.

Lasell scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth on a bases-loaded RBI single by senior Wes Hurty. 

Freshman Mike Ortiz (New Britain, Conn.) took the loss for Norwich to fall to 1-1 on the season after allowing one run on two hits and two walks in one-third of an inning of work.

Freshman Jacob Ryan (Arlington, Mass.) threw five and two-third innings on the mound. He allowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks while striking out four.

Lamorey finished three-for-three to lead the Cadet offense.

The Lasers improve to 15-13 overall and 6-4 in GNAC play while the Cadets fall to 3-26 overall and 1-9 in conference.

Norwich is next in action on Sunday for a GNAC doubleheader at Rivier University. Game times are set for 1:05 and 3:35 p.m.