Baseball Sweeps Fitchburg State in MASCAC Twinbill

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University baseball team swept Fitchburg State University in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) twinbill on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Park.

 The host Bears won the first game, 3-1, and completed the sweep with a 7-5 victory in game two.  With the sweep, Bridgewater improves to 10-8-1 on the season and 2-2 in the MASCAC. Fitchburg slides to 9-9-1 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

In the opener, BSU starting pitcher Patrick Martin (Rockland, Mass.) gave up just one unearned run on four hits as he improved to 4-0 on the season.  Martin walked just one and fanned six in the complete game victory.

The Bears scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the third on RBI singles by Keane Costa (Fairhaven, Mass.) and Trevor Lawson (Easton, Mass.).

After Fitchburg cut the deficit to 2-1 with an unearned run in the fourth, the Bears pushed across an insurance run in the fifth on an RBI double by David Pierce (East Bridgewater, Mass.).

Lawson, Pierce and Jose Polanco (Lawrence, Mass.) led Bridgewater's eight-hit attack with two hits apiece.  Polanco scored two of the Bears three runs.

Pat Mercier (Townsend, Mass.) suffered his first loss of the season on the hill for the Falcons.  Mercier (4-1) gave up three runs (two earned) on eight hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Jeff Boice (Glastonbury, Conn.) finished with two of Fitchburg's four hits.

In game two, Sean Riley (Fairhaven, Mass.) broke a 5-5 tie in the sixth inning with his third home run of the season, a two-run blast over the right-field fence.

The Bears had let a 5-0 lead slip away as the Falcons scored three runs in the fifth and tied the game in the sixth on an RBI single by Alex Heroux (Leominster, Mass.) and an RBI double off the bat of Randy Ortiz (Danielson, Conn).

Riley's late-inning heroics made a winner out of BSU reliever Jake Roderick (Provincetown, Mass.) who worked the final two innings.  Roderick (1-0) gave up two hits in his two innings of work and fanned four.

Riley, Costa, Lawson and Craig Stewart (Brockton, Mass.) each finished with two hits apiece to lead the Bears' 12-hit attack.  Stewart belted a two-run homer, his first of the season, to open the scoring in the second inning.

The Bears scored three times in the third capped off by a two-run single by Costa to take the commanding 5-0 lead.

Ortiz finished 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBI for the Falcons, while AJ Silberman (Meriden, Conn.) also notched a pair of hits.

Kenny Pennini (Millis, Mass.) worked the first four plus innings for the Bears but did not figure in the decision.  Pennini gave up three runs, only one of which was earned on three hits and two walks.

Zachary Bombria (Bolton, Conn.) took the loss on the mound for Fitchburg.  Bombria (2-2) allowed seven runs (five earned) on 11 hits with a walk and three strikeouts.