Baseball Splits MASCAC Twinbill with Framingham State

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University and Framingham State University split a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Bowditch Field.

The host Rams won the first game, 4-0, while the Bears earned the split with a 3-2 victory in the nightcap.

With the split, the Rams move to 22-15 on the season and are 7-7 in the MASCAC, while the Bears are now 8-20 overall and 5-9 in the conference. The Rams are currently fourth in the conference standings while the Bears are sixth. The two teams await the results of the final MASCAC contests which are scheduled to be played tomorrow to determine their potential seeding in next week's MASCAC Tournament.

Framingham received a solid pitching performance from Zack Kirby (Rochester, Mass.) in the opener. Kirby scattered seven hits in the complete game shutout while striking out ten en route to improving his season mark to 5-2.

The Rams scored all the runs they would need in the bottom of the first inning on a two run homerun to left center from senior Billy Derosier (Shrewsbury, Mass.) that plated classmate Mark Mainini (Hull, Mass.) who had singled earlier in the inning.

The Rams loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning and senior Matt Gerard (Milford, Mass.) and Mainini delivered sacrifice flies to double the Rams lead and reach the final differential.

Senior Anthony Deleo (Athol, Mass.) paced the Bears in the opener with a pair of hits, while senior Chris Pessotti (Burlington, Mass.) took the loss going six innings and allowing four earned runs on five hits while striking out five.

The Bears took the lead in their first at bat of game two on a sacrifice fly from junior Scott O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.) that plated junior Jacob Souza (Achushnet, Mass.).  O'Brien extended the Bears' lead in the top of the third with an RBI base hit to left. 

The Bears tacked on an insurance run, that proved to be the game deciding run, in the top of the fifth inning when Deleo reached on an error allowing the runner to score from third.

The Rams got on the board in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of runs. Senior John Gill (Hudson, Mass.) plated the first one with a sacrifice fly with runners on the corners and junior RJ Gray (Lowell, Mass.) followed with an RBI single through the left side.  The Bears went to their bullpen and junior David Holmes (North Easton, Mass.) was able to record a strikeout to end the inning.

Junior Ryan Hayward (Lynn, Mass.) earned the victory in game two for the Bears going five and two thirds allowing two earned runs on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts.  Holmes recorded the save going an inning and a third allowing just one hit with two strikeouts.

Junior Chris Monroe (Ayer, Mass.) took the loss for the Rams going five innings and surrendering three runs, two earned, on seven hits with two walks.

The Rams are back in action tomorrow afternoon with a non-conference game at the University of Southern Maine at 1 p.m., while the Bears travel to Salve Regina for a non-conference contest on Monday at 3:30 p.m.