Baseball Opens Home Slate with Doubleheader Split

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team used a combined one-hitter to earn a doubleheader split with Gordon College on Saturday afternoon.

Sophomore Trey Yesu (Monson, Mass.) worked six innings, giving up only a first-inning single, and junior Christian Loescher (Peabody, Mass.) pitched a scoreless seventh inning as the Bears won the nightcap, 12-1, against the Fighting Scots.

BSU dropped the opener, 10-7, in eight innings after forcing extra innings by scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh at Alumni Park.

The Bears, playing their first games in New England after a trip to South Carolina, are now 4-5. Gordon, which is 3-10, has lost seven of nine meetings with BSU in the all-time series.

Game One: Gordon 10, Bridgewater State 7 (8 Inn.)

The game was tied, 3-3, after three innings after both teams scored all of their runs in the third inning.

Gordon took the lead when freshman Joey Kazlauskas (Taunton, Mass.) hit a three-run homer with two outs after senior Andrew Hartman (Bethel, Conn.) walked and freshman Alex Razzaboni (Brookline, N.H.) reached on an error.

BSU tied it when sophomore Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) led the third with a homer and graduate student Mathew Pigeon (Canton, Mass.) delivered a two-run double to left-center, scoring senior Joe Frechette (Plymouth, Mass.), who had reached on an infield hit, and sophomore Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.), who had walked.

Gordon went back up, 6-3, in the fifth as junior CJ Demers (Sandy Hook, Conn.) hit a two-run homer and a groundout by junior Jacob Blake (Sutton, N.H.) scored a run.

The Bears closed the deficit to 6-5 in the bottom of the inning when senior Cam James (Ipswich, Mass.) doubled to left-center and Pigeon reached on an infield hit.

Senior Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) had an RBI single up the middle and senior Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) brought in another run with a sacrifice fly.

BSU tied it in the seventh as Pigeon doubled to right-center and scored on a Lindsay single up the middle. After Lindsay stole second, the Bears had the game-winning run in scoring position with nobody out, but after back-to-back ground outs and a fly out, Lindsay was stranded at third.

Gordon then scored four times in the top of the eighth inning.

Sophomore Gianni Mercurio (Wakefield, Mass.) bunted for a single and stole second. With two outs, an intentional walk and a walk loaded the bases. Razzaboni doubled to right for two runs and Kazlawskas doubled to left-center for two more runs.

The Bears scored a run in the bottom of the inning with Simon doubling to left center, advancing on a groundout and scoring on a wild pitch.

Freshman Mike Williams (Peabody, Mass.) went 2 2-3 innings for the win while freshman Michael Cobb (Waltham, Mass.) took the loss after pitching three innings of relief for the Bears. Graduate starter Matthew Seavey (North Attleboro, Mass.) had seven strikeouts in five innings.

Pigeon keyed the BSU offense, going 3-for-5 with two doubles while Lindsay had two hits and two RBI.

Game Two: Bridgewater State 12, Gordon 1

The only hit allowed by the Bears came with two outs in the top of the first when Razzaboni singled to left field, driving in the Fighting Scots' lone run of the game.

Yesu (1-0) had eight strikeouts and walked just one batter during his six innings. Loescher worked a perfect seventh inning.

In his first start this season against Manchester, Yesu allowed one earned run and five hits while striking out seven.

The Bears had 11 hits and scored the last four innings they batted.

BSU took a 2-1 lead in the third inning as sophomore Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) walked and wound up scoring when Frechette reached on an infield error. Lindsay then singled down the line in left for the second run.

The Bears moved the lead to 5-1 in the fourth as James walked, Wladkowski singled to left and Pigeon reached on an infield hit to lead the bases.

Selander's groundout scored one run and Frechette added two runs with a single to left.

BSU scored one more in the fifth as a groundout by Wladkowski brought in Lindsay, who had walked.

The Bears finished the scoring with a six-run sixth inning.

Frechette had an RBI double to right center after singles by senior Kyle Sucari (Clinton, Conn.) and Selander. Emerson drove in two runs with a single, a balk  brought in another run and a throwing error scored the final run.

Frechette (three RBI), Wladkowski and Flaherty had two hits each for BSU. Flaherty extended his hitting streak to eight games.

The Bears next play on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. when they face Emerson College at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough.

Gordon is at Rhode Island College at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.