Baseball Sweep Mass. Maritime in MASCAC Twinbill

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team swept a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) doubleheader against Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Thursday afternoon at Hendy Field.

Senior left-hander Samuel Devine (Bourne, Mass.) tossed a complete-game four-hit shutout and recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts to lead Bridgewater State to a 7-0 win in the nightcap. Junior Tyler Morini's (Plymouth, Mass.) two-out RBI single in the top of the seventh gave the Bears a 10-9 victory in the opening contest.

The visiting Bears (10-18, 3-9 MASCAC) overcame a 2-0 second inning deficit in the lid-lifter by plating three runs in the top of the third on a two-run triple by senior Ryan Feeney (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and a sacrifice fly by junior Alex Carey (East Bridgewater, Mass.)., but the host Buccaneers (10-14, 5-7 MASCAC) regained a 5-3 edge in the bottom of the frame on a two-run single by sophomore Kevin Troy (Braintree, Mass.) and senior Jake Petruzzelli's (Abington, Mass.) fielder's choice.

Bridgewater State knotted the score at 5-5 on a pair of errors in the top of the fourth before using a four-run fifth inning rally highlighted by RBI singles off the bats of Morini and juniors Reed Pike (Bellingham, Mass.) and Ryan Kelleher (Danvers, Mass.) to grab a 9-5 lead.

Massachusetts Maritime responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning on a Petruzzelli single, a Troy sacrifice fly and an RBI triple by freshman Jackson Simone (Seattle, Wash.) to climb back to within one at 9-8.

Sophomore Paul Sances (Middleboro, Mass.) laced a one-out double in the bottom of the sixth and later scored on Simone's sacrifice fly to tie the score at 9-9 for the hosts, but the visitors plated the go-ahead run in the seventh when Morini knockin in freshman pinch-runner Carlos Rivera Jr. (New Bedford, Mass.) with a two-out single to right. Troy led off the bottom of the inning with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice, but he was caught stealing on a suicide squeeze attempt that ended the Buccaneer threat.

Morini and Pike each had three hits as part of a 15-hit opening game attack for Bridgewater State, which also received two hits each from Kelleher, Carey and junior Randy Frazier (Wareham, Mass.).

Junior Mike Nader (Hollywood, Fla.) evened his record at 2-2 by picking up the win in relief for the Bears, while junior Connor Birch (Bellingham, Mass.) worked around Troy's double in the seventh to earn his first save of the spring.

Troy rapped out three of Massachusetts Maritime's 13 hits and joined Simone with three RBI in the opener, as the hosts also received two hits from junior Logan Sullo (Acushnet, Mass.).  Petruzzelli and junior Casey Furnas (Boca Raton, Fla.) also had two hits for the Buccaneers, as freshman Matt Smith (Lowell, Mass.) allowed the go-ahead run in the seventh to suffer the setback and fall to 1-1 on the season.

Bridgewater State gave Devine the only runs he would need in the second inning of the nightcap by taking advantage of a pair of errors and a wild pitch, and the Bears added two runs each in both the fifth and sixth frames on an error and Morini's two-run single. The visitors closed out the scoring in the seventh on Kelleher's sacrifice fly.

Devine took care of the rest on the mound by walking just one and throwing 70 of his 110 pitches for strikes to improve to 4-1 on the season. Devine's 13 Ks are the most in a game for a BSU pitcher since Brian Guillotte fanned 13 batters in in a 4-3, nine-inning win at Salve Regina University on April 14, 2011.

Junior Connor Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.) accounted for half of the Buccaneers' hit total with a pair of singles, as senior Daniel Avery (Milford, Mass.) allowed six unearned runs and struck out eight over the first six innings of work to fall to 3-3 on the spring.

Massachusetts Maritime heads to Westfield, Mass. on Friday afternoon to take on Westfield State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader that begins at 1:00 p.m. The Buccaneers can clinch in spot in next week's MASCAC Tournament with a win over the Owls.

Bridgewater State hosts Johnson & Wales in a non-league outing on Friday afternoon in Bridgewater, Mass. beginning at 3:30 p.m. The Bears then travel to Framingham State on Saturday for a pair of conference games with the Rams starting at 1:00 PM. The Bears can earn a spot in the MASCAC Tournament with a sweep of the Rams coupled with a pair of Westfield wins over Mass. Maritime.

-- Portions of the Recap Courtesy of Mass. Maritime Sports Information Office --