Baseball Falls to UMass Dartmouth, 5-4

DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth baseball team edged visiting Bridgewater State University, 5-4, on Thursday afternoon at the UMD Baseball Field.

The host Corsairs improve to 10-3 on the season with the win, while the Bears fall to 4-7. The game marked the home opener for UMass.

UMass jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a four-goal second inning highlighted by a two-run double by senior catcher Brandon Polignone (Peabody, Mass.).

The Bears strung together five hits in a three-run fourth inning to cut the deficit to 4-3. An RBI single by senior catcher Drew Gentile (Lynn, Mass.) and a two-run single off the bat of senior right fielder Ryan Kelleher (Danvers, Mass.) accounted for the scoring in the frame.

Bridgewater knotted the score at 4-4 with an unearned run in the top of the fifth as an RBI groundout by senior first baseman Reed Pike (Bellingham, Mass.) plated sophomore DH Sean Casey (Braintree, Mass.) from third base.

The score remained that way until the bottom of the seventh when junior shortstop Erick Ramirez (Boston, Mass.) brought home sophomore center fielder Nate Tellier (Attleboro, Mass.) from second base with an RBI single down the left field line. Tellier opened the frame with a base hit and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.

Freshman right-hander Colin Nicklas (Plymouth, Mass.) tossed three solid innings of relief to pick up his first collegiate win. Nicklas (1-0) allowed just one unearned run on two hits.

Freshman righty Logan Maitland (Tiverton, R.I.) pitched a scoreless ninth to notch his first career save. Maitland gave up a hit and a walk and fanned two. The final out of the game was recorded on an attempted steal of third.

Junior left-hander Greg Cavaioli (Leominster, Mass.) pitched well in five innings of relief for the Bears, but was saddled with the loss. Cavaioli (0-2) gave up a run on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Freshman right-hander Matt Josselyn (Hanson, Mass.) worked 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing a hit and a walk.

Offensively, the Bears banged out ten hits on the afternoon led by two hits apiece from Casey, senior shortstop Matt Levasseur (Milton, Mass.) and sophomore center fielder Lewis Robinson (New Britain, Conn.).

Tellier went 3-for-4 to pace the Corsairs' seven-hit attack. UMD batsmen were also issued six walks.