Baseball Opens 2021 Season with Rain-Shortened 4-2 Setback to Eastern Nazarene

WEYMOUTH, Mass. -- The visiting Bridgewater State University baseball team opened the 2021 season with a 4-2 rain-shortened setback to Eastern Nazarene College on Thursday afternoon at Libby Field in Weymouth.

The host Lions, who were playing in their fifth game, improve to 2-3 on the young season. The Bears fall to 0-1. The game was called in the middle of the seventh inning.

Brenndan Rogers (Hanson, Mass.) picked up the win on the mound for ENC in his first start of the 2021 campaign. Rogers (1-0) went the first five innings and allowed two runs on four hits with a pair of walks and five strikeouts. Morgan Weast (Cincinnati, Ohio) picked up his first collegiate save as the lefthander came on with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the seventh and retired both batters he faced.

The Bears jumped out in front with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Back-to-back base hits by Luke Tamulevich (Whitman, Mass.) and Joey Molis (Cumberland, R.I.) followed by a wild pitch put runners on second and third with one out. After a strikeout, Colin Josselyn (Hanson, Mass.) ripped a two-run single up the middle to give the Bears the early 2-0 lead.

Eastern Nazarene took advantage of four BSU errors to push across four unearned runs in the bottom of the second inning. With runners on second and third with two outs, Joshua Bombard (Rutland, Mass.) smacked a two-run double off the left field fence to knot the score at 2-2. Max Miednik (Parkland, Fla.) followed with an RBI double to give the Lions the lead. Miednik came around to score on the play due to a pair of BSU miscues.

The Bears received a strong outing from starter David Kerns (East Cambridge, Mass.) in the loss. Kerns (0-1) gave up just the four unearned runs on six hits over five innings. The junior righthander did not issue a walk and fanned seven.

Lefty reliever Harrison Loud (South Kingstown, R.I.) worked a scoreless inning in relief for the visitors. Loud gave up a hit and walk with a pair of strikeouts.

Josselyn paced the BSU offense as he reached safely twice in three plate appearances with a walk to go along with the two-run single. Sean Goudey (Weymouth, Mass.) doubled and walked in four trips to the plate, while Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) went 1-for-2 with a single and a walk. Goudey and Wladkowski each recorded their first collegiate hit.

Miednik went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI to highlight the Lions' seven-hit attack.

The Bears left eight runners on base, five over the last two innings, and went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The Lions stranded four runners and went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

The two teams will be back in action on Saturday when they meet in a twinbill at BSU's Alumni Park. Game one is slated to get underway at noon.