Baseball Edged by Scranton, 6-5

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – The Bridgewater State University baseball team dropped a 6-5 decision to the University of Scranton on Sunday at the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Punta Gorda, Florida.

The Bears fall to 0-2 with the setback, while the Royals improve to 2-3.

Bridgewater pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the second inning to open the scoring. The Bears strung together a pair of hits and walk, and took advantage of a balk and a Scranton error. Sophomore Patrick Cashin (Franklin, Mass.) singled home senior Kevin Bresciani (Hopedale, Mass.) who had started the rally with a base hit. Senior Colin Josselyn (Hanson, Mass.), who reached on a walk, later came around to score on a fielding error.

The Royals tallied a pair of runs in the bottom of the third and added two more in the fourth to pull ahead 4-2. Freshman Tyler Kirsten (Wallenpaupack, Pa.) rapped an RBI single in the third, while sophomore Ben Grochowski (Old Forge, Pa.) singled and score on an RBI groundout. The other two runs came across as a result of BSU errors.

BSU junior Lewis Robinson (New Britain, Conn.) doubled home a run in the top of the fifth and came around to score on classmate Jonathan Livolsi's (Bridgewater, Mass.) RBI single to knot the score at 4-4.

Scranton answered with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom half of the inning to jump back on top, 6-4. Sophomore Kevin Johnson (Whitehouse Station, N.J.) had an RBI single in the frame.

The Bears rallied in the top of the eighth and pulled to within one, 6-5, on Josselyn's RBI single. Bridgewater had the tying run on second base in the inning with one out, but could not get the timely hit. The Bears went down in order in the ninth as the Royals held on for the 6-5 victory.

Freshman Ruben Gonzalez (Stoughton, Mass.) went 2-for-5 with a double to lead the BSU offense. Josselyn (1-for-3) reached twice with a single and a walk. He scored a run and drove in one. Bresciani (1-for-4) scored two runs and threw out four runners attempting to steal.

Senior righthander Shawn Smeglin (Wakefield, Mass.) took the loss on the mound. Smeglin allowed six runs, only three of which were earned, on six hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings of work. He also fanned four. Sophomore Trever Dennett (Kingston, Mass.) and senior Jack Mannion (Dorchester, Mass.) combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. Dennett scattered five hits in 2 1/3 innings, while Mannion set down the side in order in the eighth with one strikeout.

The Snowbird Baseball Classic continues for the Bears on Monday when they take on SUNY Canton at noon.