Fort Myers, FL (March 21, 2016) – Purchase College baseball opened its spring break trip with a pair of losses over the weekend.  The Panthers fell to Lasell College, 8-4, on Saturday and dropped an 11-3 decision to Saint John's University (MN) on Sunday at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Fort Myers, FL.
 
The Panthers are now 5-8 on the spring.
 
VS. LASELL
Senior Wes Hurty cracked a three-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning to grant Lasell the 8-4 victory Saturday evening at Terry Park.
 
Hurty went 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and four RBI's, while junior Brandon Valentin batted 3-for-5 with one run batted in and two runs. Freshman Brett Sherron continued a strong spring break outing with two RBI's on two hits, tacking on to the deciding eight-inning charge.
 
For the Panthers, senior William Kaul (Eastchester, NY) led with two runs knocked in while junior Teofilo Ramirez (Queens, NY) and freshman Brian Cunningham (Westbury, NY) accounted for the remaining RBI's.
 
Freshman pitcher Daniel Petr held the Panthers runless in the opening three innings, allowing just a single hit in the showing.
 
The Lasers struck first in the bottom of the third, as Valentin led off with a single to left field to plate first. Senior Tyler Flaherty took a hit from Purchase sophomore thrower Lukas Chin (Spring Valley, NY), where a deep double to center by junior Hector Coscione drove in the first run of the game. A groundout to short moved Coscione to third and scored Flaherty before Sherron's ground-rule double plated Coscione for the 3-0 inning.
 
The Panthers tacked on a single run in the following two innings and started the go-ahead charge in the top of the seventh. After a change on the mound for the Lasers, Kaul stepped to the plate with runners on first and second, and swung into a base hit to center field, scoring junior Ronald Pressley (Bronx, NY) to knot the score 3-3. A Ramirez single to center assured the Panthers the go-ahead run, 4-3, as the Lasers subbed in junior Matt Haskell on the hill to get the final fly-out.
 
Haskell struck out the side in the top of the 8th, where the Lasers then ignited their rally en route to the victory. Senior Dan Gagnon took the plate as a pinch hitter for the first time in the contest, and did his job with a single to center to put runners on first and third. Valentin's third hit of the night was an RBI single.  
 
With the bases loaded, Hurty crushed a double to center field to bring home all three base runners for the 7-4 go ahead. The Panthers made a pitching switch after the blast, but Sherron wouldn't crack under the pressure and brought home Hurty for the 8-4 final. 
 
Haskell (1-0) earned the win on the hill with a team-high six strikeouts and just one hit in 2.1 innings pitched, while freshman Dominic Micara (1-1) (Massapequa, NY) suffered the loss giving-up the go ahead along with four other earned runs.
 
VS. SAINT JOHN'S
Saint John's third baseman Derek Schiebel went 4-for-6 with a double and a RBI to lead the Johnnies to an 11-3 victory over Purchase, while rookie Cole Weaver went 2-for-4 with four RBI.
Senior shortstop Logan Hershey, senior outfielder Dan Keller and senior first baseman Patrick Strey tallied two hits apiece.

For the Panthers, junior third baseman Patrick Rucci (Cortlandt Manor, NY) went 2-for-2 with one RBI while senior catcher Brenden LaPorte (Farmington, CT) tallied two hits on three trips to the plate.

St. John's senior Marcus Barone picked up his first varsity win, allowing the three runs on eight hits in six innings. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.  Junior Sam Ferguson struck out five in three hitless innings of relief.

Purchase junior pitcher Andrew Fingerhut (0-3) (Smithtown, NY) was tagged with the loss after giving up nine runs over three innings of action.