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Taconic graduate Anton Lazits comes home after a home run this season for the Columbia University baseball team.

Lazits Leading Lions to First in Ivies

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Taconic High School graduate and Columbia University junior Anton Lazits is hitting .253 for the Lions this spring.
 
Lazits has six home runs, five doubles and 13 RBIs in starting all 22 games for the Lions, who are 10-12 overall and 5-1 in the Ivy League heading into this weekend's games at Dartmouth.
 
He started the year with two home runs and four RBIs in Columbia's 15-6 loss at Florida on Feb. 23.
 
Saturday's 11:30 Columbia game against the Big Green is scheduled to be telecast on ESPN-plus.
 
Staying in the Ivies, Taconic graduate Nick Guachione has appeared in seven games at the University of Pennsylvania. He has drawn two walks and been hit by a pitch three times for the Quakers (11-13).
 
Mount Greylock graduate Derek Paris and the University of Maryland Baltimore County baseball team are 10-14 this spring in the America East Conference. The Retrievers sophomore has started 20 games behind the plate, batting .257 with six RBIs.
 
On April 26, 27 and 28, Paris and UMBC will be in the Bay State to face UMass-Lowell and Pittsfield High graduate Cam Sime. Sime, a first-year pitcher with the River Hawks, has a 5.68 ERA in four appearances for Lowell (9-16). His best collegiate outing came on March 22 against the University at Albany, when he struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit and no runs in three innings of work.
 
Siena College graduate student Austin Rachiele (Taconic) is batting .309 with a team-best OPS (on-base plus slugging) of 1.029 for the 5-20 Saints. Rachiele, a graduate of MCLA, has six home runs, two triples and seven doubles this spring in Loudonville, N.Y.
 
At Westfield State this spring, several Berkshire County products are making an impact.
 
Senior Ryan Lapierre has started and one four games on the mound with an ERA of 1.40. The Pittsfield High graduate has 27 strikeouts in 25.2 innings for the Owls (14-5), who visit MCLA on April 23 for a double-header.
 
His teammate and Wahconah graduate Quinn Gallagher, a Westfield State junior, has appeared in three games on the mound, compiling an 8.59 ERA in 7-1/3 innings.
 
Westfield State first-years Tommy Mullin (PHS) and Antonio Scalise (Taconic) have seen limited action off the bench. Pittsfield grad and Owls sophomore Chase Racine has a .345 batting average in nine games with a triple, a home run and 10 RBIs this spring.
 
PHS grad Walker Abdallah is hitting .333 at Keene State this spring. The first-year outfielder has appeared in 14 games, starting 12, for the Owls (11-6).
 
At Bryant University, first-year Evan Blake (Taconic) has a home run and three RBIs in 21 at-bats for the Bulldogs (16-10).
 
Hoosac Valley graduate Henry Sniezek, a senior at Worcester Polytechnic, has appeared in six games this season with a 4.00 ERA. 
 
UMass-Boston sophomore Jack Cangelosi has appeared in two games on the mound this spring, compiling a 3.37 earned run average for the Beacons (12-7).
 
Jacob Thompson, a 2023 graduate of Mount Greylock and first-year at the City College of New York, has two plate appearances this spring. He was hit by a pitch both times for the Beavers (5-13).
 
Ben Cornish (Pittsfield High), a first-year pitcher at MCLA, has appeared in one game for the Trailblazers (4-12) striking out one third of an inning.
 
On the softball diamond, Wahconah graduate Avery Vale-Cruz has appeared in 13 games in the circle at the University of Rhode Island this spring. The URI first-year pitcher has a 4.24 earned run average and a record of 1-7 with six starts and one complete game for the 6-23 Rams.
 
Mount Greylock grad Emma Newberry has made one appearance this spring for Rensselaer Polytechnic (15-1). Newberry came off the bench to double in a pair of runs in the fifth inning of a 3-0 win over Castleton State on March 28.
 
Brooke Phelps (Mount Greylock), a senior at Framingham State this spring, has started all 10 games for the women's lacrosse team. The defender ahs nine ground balls for the Rams (8-2).
 
Ainsley Abel, a '23 Mount Greylock grad and first-year at Williams College, has appeared in four games off the bench and taken two shots for Williams (7-2).
 
Drury graduate Nathan Haley, who played on the co-operative boys lacrosse team at Hoosac Valley, has a team-best 20 goals this spring for the MCLA men's lacrosse team. Haley, a junior, has started all seven games for the Trailblazers (0-7), who host SUNY-Cobleskill on Saturday. Another Drury grad, Neal Brierley, has three goals and three assists for MCLA.
 
Logan Leja, a Hoosac Valley graduate and MCLA sophomore, has started four games on defense. McCann Tech grad Lucan McGrath, a first-year midfielder for the Trailblazers, has one goal in seven appearances this spring.
 
More from the winter:
 
Framingham State senior Gwen Carpenter (Mount Everett) capped her college career with a third-team all-Region 1 selection from D3hoops.com. Carpenter was the co-Player of the Year in the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference after leading the leage with 193 assists and and averaging 9.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the MASCAC champion Rams. Framingham State won a school-record 24 games and advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament, where they fell to Scranton in the first round.
 
University of Maryland Baltimore County sophomore Dion Brown (Monument Mountain/Vermont Academy) was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches all-District Second Team this winter. Brown, who was also named all-America East First Team, set a school record for scoring by a sophomore with 607 points, averaging 19.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
 
If you know a college athlete from Berkshire County who should be included in a future edition of College Collage, email sports@iBerkshires.com.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Clarksburg Word War II Casualty Returns Home After 82 Years

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The procession with a Marine escort arrives at Town Hall. 
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Erwin Shaftsbury King was about six years older than James Pierce when he joined the Marines. 
 
Pierce, now 92, grew up near the King family on West Road, where he still lives. He remembered King as just one of the kids.
 
"We were all neighborhood kids. We all played together," he said. "He was one of the kids, we always had a good time together, because those days you had to make your own fun. You didn't have television."
 
King had left Drury High in North Adams just six weeks after Pearl Harbor to enlist in the Marines and never returned home — until now. 
 
Community members, veterans and local officials turned out in Clarksburg and North Adams to greet the returning hero, who died 82 years ago at the Battle of Guadalcanal. Attempts to recover King's remains, and nine others who died with him on Sept. 24, 1942, had been unsuccessful for decades until their graves were uncovered six years ago. 
 
On Friday, he was escorted by police and Dalton American Legion Riders from Bradley International Airport to Clarksburg, for a brief wreath-laying ceremony, and then to Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals in North Adams. 
 
Pierce, who retired from North Adams Regional Hospital 30 years ago, is likely one of the few people who knew King though he still has nieces and nephews in the area. 
 
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