Baseball Drops Pair of Games at Snowbird Classic

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team dropped a pair of games on Thursday at the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Port Charlotte, Florida.

The Bears (1-6) dropped an 11-3 decision to Heidelberg University and lost 3-2 to Ohio Wesleyan University.

Game One: Heidelberg 11, Bridgewater State 3

Jake Davis (Vincent, Ohio) went 4-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and six RBI to lead Heidelberg to the win. Davis was one of five players with multiple hits on the day as the Student Princes (6-5) banged out 17 hits in the contest.

Heidelberg jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Cayden Rollins (Clyde, Ohio) knocked in a pair of runs with a base hit, and Davis doubled home a run and came around to score on a sacrifice fly.

The Bears scratched across a run across in the top of the fourth as David Skiendiel (Norton, Mass.) singled with one out, advanced to second on a throwing error, to third on a fly out and trotted home on Chris Hanna's (Kingston, N.H.) RBI single.

Davis belted a three-run homer in the home half of the fourth to make it a 7-1 game.

Bridgewater loaded the bases with nobody out on back-to-back base hits by Liam Bell (Wells, Maine) and Joey Molis (Cumberland, R.I.) and a walk to Luke Tamulevich (Whitman, Mass.). Jonathan Livolsi (Bridgewater, Mass.) brought home Bell with a fielder's choice grounder and Skiendiel was hit by a pitch to force in Molis and cut the deficit to 7-3.

Davis knocked in a run with an RBI single in a three-run fifth and added an RBI double in the seventh to round out the scoring.

Tristan Phillips (Akron, Ohio) went five full innings in the victory. Phillips (3-0) allowed three runs (two earned), fanned two and gave up five hits. Mason Metz (Chardon, Ohio), Trey Ickes (Fremont, Ohio), Gavin Watson (Oxford, Mich.) and Jake Hall (Willard, Ohio) each threw an inning of scoreless relief for the Student Princes.

Bell (2-4, BB, R), Molis (2-4, BB, R) and Hanna (2-3, 2B, RBI) each finished with multiple hits for Bridgewater State.

Game Two: Ohio Wesleyan 3, Bridgewater State 2

D.J. Neff (Grove City, Ohio) belted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to life Ohio Wesleyan to the dramatic 3-2 win.

The game was scoreless until the eighth inning as David Kerns (East Cambridge, Mass.) and Ethan Soderna (Chicago, Ill.) were locked in a pitcher's duel.

The Bears broke the tie with a run in the top of the eighth as Michael Catanoso (Marshfield, Mass.) was hit by a pitch, stole second with one out and advanced to third on a passed ball. After Tyler Rondeau (Bourne, Mass.) drew a walk, Catanoso raced home on a suicide squeeze bunt by Bell.

Ohio Wesleyan answered with a pair of runs in the home half of the eighth as the Battling Bishops capitalized on a pair of BSU errors. Cole Antle (Grove City, Ohio) singled with one out, moved to second on a balk and came around to score on Carter Franklin's (Wooster, Ohio) pinch hit RBI single. One out later, Jon Erhard (Newark, Ohio) reached on a fielding error and a BSU throwing error allowed Franklin to cross the plate with the go-ahead run.

Bridgewater tied it in the top of the ninth. Tamulevich led off the inning with walk and advanced to second two batters later on a pinch hit single by Colin Josselyn (Hanson, Mass.). Dan Saraceno (Mansfield, Mass.) followed with an RBI base hit to knot the score at 2-2.

Neff then homered to lead off the bottom of the ninth to win the game for the Battling Bishops.

Neither starter factored in the decision. Kerns allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits over 7 1/3 innings. He walked two and fanned three. Soderna tossed gave up just four hits over seven shutout innings with a walk and seven strikeouts.

Bell went 1-for-2 with a single, walk and RBI suicide squeeze bunt to lead the BSU offense. Tamulevich finished 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk and run scored.

The Bears wrap up their Florida trip on Friday morning when they take on #15 Marietta College at ten.