Martin Leads Baseball to 2-0 Shutout of 10th Ranked Wheaton

NORTON, Mass. – Behind an outstanding pitching performance by junior right-hander Patrick Martin (Rockland, Mass.), the visiting Bridgewater State University baseball team blanked tenth ranked Wheaton College, 2-0, on Tuesday evening at Wheaton's Sidell Stadium.

The Bears improve to 6-5 with the win, while the Lyons, who are ranked in the latest D3baseball.com national poll, slip to 8-5 on the season.

Martin scattered 11 hits over eight-and-two-thirds innings, issued one walk and struck out three batters to improve to 2-0 on the season for the Bears. Freshman reliever Chris Pessotti (Burlington, Mass.) earned his first-career save inducing a fly out to left field to close out the game.

Senior Corey Laliberte (Fall River, Mass.) held the visitors scoreless over six innings of work yielding two hits, one walk and two punchouts. Freshman Steve Consiglio (Southbury, Conn.) was saddled with the loss on two-thirds of an inning, three hits and two runs (both earned). Junior Ryan Grant (Easton, Mass.) completed the final one-and-one-thirds innings allowing just one hit.

After seven scoreless innings, the Bears finally broke open the shutout with two runs on a bloop single down the left field line by senior designated hitter Jose Polanco (Lawrence, Mass.) with the bases loaded scoring classmates Tory Buck (Shelburne Falls, Mass.) and David Pierce (East Bridgewater, Mass.).

Wheaton freshman center fielder Jimmy Smith (Worcester, Mass.) prevented Bridgewater State from scoring earlier in the frame as he gunned down senior Trevor Lawson (Easton, Mass.) at home after Buck ripped a single to center field.

In the seventh, the Bears escaped a bases loaded jam with one out in the inning. Martin induced a shallow fly out to right field and a ground out to keep the score even (0-0).

Freshman Eric Dumas (Brookline, Mass.) pushed his scoreless streak to ten-and-one-thirds innings in the top half of the seventh with one strikeout. Dumas entered the contest with runners at second and third and two outs. On the season, Dumas is a perfect 6-for-6 when inheriting runners out of the bullpen.

The Lyons collected 11 hits total including multi-hit games from sophomores Kevin Foley (Southbury, Conn.) and Apolinar De la Cruz (Providence, R.I.) and senior Dan Gusovsky (Andover, Mass.). Both hits for De la Cruz were doubles.

Wheaton travels to Salem State University for a non-conference matchup on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Bridgewater State visits Curry College tomorrow for a non-conference game scheduled for 3:30 p.m.