Baseball Defeats St. Lawrence of Quebec, 5-2

VERO BEACH, Fla. ---- Behind six solid innings from Mike Nader and two-hit games from Tom Protentis and Justin Martinho, the Massasoit baseball team clipped St. Lawrence CC of Quebec, 5-2.

Nader (1-1) of Hollywood, Fla., worked the first six innings to earn his first collegiate victory. The right-hander yielded only two runs (one earned) off three hits and two strikeouts.

The freshman did labor at times over the course of the game, as Nader would walk three and hit three over his six frames of work. However, Nader worked around the free passes to help secure the victory.

Offensively, Massasoit (2-7) did all of its damage in two innings against St. Lawrence.

The Warriors broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the second, when Joe Commesso (Marshfield) put down a sacrifice bunt with Nick Oliveira (New Bedford) and Justin Martinho (Dighton) on base. A St. Lawrence infielder would airmail a throw on the bunt allowing two runs to come around and give Massasoit an early 2-0 advantage.

It appeared as though St. Lawrence would answer the next half inning against Nader. The righty hit two batters and walked another, but recorded one of his two strikeouts on the day to end the inning and keep the Lions scoreless.

In the fourth, Massasoit used a two-out rally to plate three crucial runs. Matt Levasseur (Milton) started the scoring spree with a single and was followed by a RBI double off the bat of nine-hole hitter Jim Commesso (Monument Beach). As the lineup turned over, leadoff man Al Carey (East Bridgewater) and Tom Protentis (Lakeville) each roped run scoring singles to account for the big inning.

The Lions pushed across two runs in the top of the sixth, before Sam Devine (Taunton) shut the door in the seventh to earn his first save of the season for the Warriors.

Martinho and Protentis each finished with two hits in the victory.