Winter Park, Fla. (February 27) -- On Friday night at Alfond Stadium, the Assumption College baseball team dropped an 8-2 final to Rollins College in non-conference action. The game is part of the 67th Annual Baseball Week, which is hosted all week by Rollins.

The Tars jumped on top 2-0 in the bottom of the second off Assumption starter Zack LaRosa (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) as RBI doubles by Blake Hutton and Peter Nicoletto led Rollins to the two-run inning. The Hounds cut that lead in half in the top of the fourth as an RBI groundout by senior third baseman Greg O'Donnell (Northbridge, Mass./Northbridge) scored junior Michael Panza (West Haven, Conn./Notre Dame) for the 2-1 score. Panza reached base to lead off the inning on an error by the shortstop.

Rollins took control with a three-run fifth inning, followed by two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to jump out 7-1 heading to the seventh. Hutton and Nicoletto had back-to-back RBI hits in the fifth to chase LaRosa from the game as freshman Mike Curtis (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) came in to pitch the next 1.2 innings. LaRosa ended his outing after 4.1 innings with six hits, five earned runs and two strikeouts.

Assumption added a second run in the top of the seventh as an RBI single by junior catcher Tom Paine (Upton, Mass./Nipmuc) scored sophomore Mike Coggeshall (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) for the 7-2 margin. Coggeshall reached with one out in the inning on a single to right.

Also seeing time in relief were sophomore Tom Brengel (Hicksville, N.Y./Holy Trinity) and freshman Nick Massarelli (Southwick, Mass./Southwick) as each went one inning to finish out the game. For the Tars, starter Brian Auerbach went eight innings to improve to 1-0 as he scattered seven hits with one earned run and three strikeouts in the victory.

For the Hounds, Paine, O'Donnell and sophomore Matt Murphy (Wakefield, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) each had a pair of hits as they finished 2-for-4 each in the game. For the Tars, their 2-3-4 hitters were a combined 7-for-12 in the win and six players in total had multiple hits.

With the loss, Assumption drops to 0-4 overall, while Rollins improves to 6-8 on the season.

Assumption is back in action on Saturday, February 28th as the Hounds take on Saint Anselm for a 6 p.m. start at Alfond Stadium.

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