Baseball Hangs On for 12-11 Win over Suffolk

QUINCY, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University Bears held on for a 12-11 victory over the Suffolk University Rams on a snowy Thursday afternoon at Adams Field in Quincy.

The Rams mounted a five-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth, but left the tying run on third base as they dropped their fourth game in a row.

Sophomore Keane Costa (Fairhaven, Mass.) went 2-for-3 with three RBI, while sophomore David Pierce (East Bridgewater, Mass.) was 3-for-4 with three runs scored to lead the Bears' 16-hit attack.  Junior Joshua Ferreira (Fall River, Mass.) went 3-for-6 with a triple, three runs and two RBI, while junior Dave Billotte (Norton, Mass.) finished 2-for-4 with two runs and a pair of RBI.

Freshman Jake Cintolo (Wrentham, Mass.) went 5-for-5 with three RBI for the Rams as he reached base in all six plate appearances.

Bridgewater mounted a 7-1 lead after three innings of play, and held a 12-4 advantage heading to the bottom of the eighth inning.  The Rams, however, would rally over the final two innings as snow fell from the sky making the playing conditions tough.

Senior Matt Greenberg (Norwell, Mass.) doubled home Ferreira in the first to get the Bears' scoring started.  Ferreira tripled in two runs in the second and scored when sophomore Tyler Dennis (Stoughton, Mass.) reached on an error.  Bridgewater plated three more runs in the third to take a 7-1 lead on a Costa two-run single and a John Garabedian (Mansfield, Mass.) sacrifice fly.

After Suffolk cut the deficit to 7-3, Bridgewater added two more runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Pierce and sacrifice fly off the bat of Costa.  The Bears would score three times in the top of the eighth to take a 12-4 lead as Billotte doubled home two runs with the bases loaded and Pierce added a sacrifice fly.

Freshman Devan Jones (Roslindale, Mass.) started the Rams attack in the bottom of the eighth with a double off the centerfield fence plating senior Mark Addesa (Revere, Mass.). Jones would come around later in the inning to score as Cintolo fired a single up the middle brining the Rams within six runs heading into their final at-bat.

Freshman Michael Muse (Milton, Mass.) started the ninth off reaching on an infield error and then scored on a double to left field by senior Nick Travelyn (Bedford, N.H.). Jones would plate two more Suffolk runs with a single to left center.

Cintolo brought the Rams within a run as he hit a double to the left center gap plating Jones and senior Andrew Babb (Ashland, Mass.) bringing the tying run in scoring position.

Junior Jim Balboni (Townsend, Mass.) was then summoned in from the Bears' bullpen retiring the final two Rams to end the threat ending the game with a strikeout as Bridgewater State picks up their eighth win of the season.

Senior Brian Guillotte (New Bedford, Mass.) picked up the win on the mound for the Bears.  Guillotte (1-1) worked 7 2/3 innings giving up six unearned runs on ten hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts.  Bridgewater committed six errors in the game which led to seven unearned runs.