Baseball Rallies in Ninth to Edge Johnson & Wales, 5-3

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team rallied for four runs in the ninth inning as the Bears posted a 5-3 come-from-behind victory over host Johnson & Wales University on Wednesday afternoon.

The visiting  Bears improve to 6-10 with the win, while the Wildcats slip to 14-4.

Trailing 3-1 in the ninth, Colin Ryan started the rally with a one-out single to center.  Jacob Souza followed with a base hit to right to put the tying run.  Billy Mitchell plated Ryan and sent Souza to third with a run-scoring single to center. A wild pick-off attempt allowed Souza to trot hom with the game-tying run.

With Mitchell on first and the scored now tied at 3-3, Ryan Manning kept things going as he grounded a base hit between third and short.  Nicholas White then gave the Bears their first lead of the game with an RBI single scoring Mitchell and sending Manning to third.  After a walk to Keaghan Austin-MacInnis loaded the base, John Mulready capped off the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center plating Manning with the fourth run of the frame.

Adam Mullen, who came on in the eighth inning, worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to secure the win for the Bears.  Mullen (1-0) fanned three in  1 2/3 innings of relief. He gave up two hit and walked one.

Tim Ashworth was tagged with the loss for the Wildcats.  Ashworth (1-1) was touched for four runs on five hits in just a third of an inning.

Mitchell (2-for-5), White (2-for-5), Ryan (2-for-4) and Anthony Licciardello (2-for-4) each finished with two hits apiece to highlight the Bears' 13-hit attack.  Licciardello also walked as he reached safely three times in just his second start of the season behind the plate.

Johnson & Wales pushed across an unearned run in the first to take the early 1-0 lead.  An infield single by Tyler Pacheco with the bases loaded plated Alex Pezzuto. Pezzuto reached on an error to open the frame.

The Bears evened the score at 1-1 in the fourth as Sean Brooks doubled with two outs and later came around to score on Ryan's RBI single.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the eigth when Jack Hocking rifled a two-out, two-run single down the right-field line to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead.

David Holmes (Easton, Mass.) hurled the first two innings for the Bears giving up an unearned run on two hits and walk.  Andy Sadoski (Harwich, Mass.) worked two shutout innings in relief allowing a pair of hits while fanning two.