13-Run Inning Propels Baseball to 19-9 MASCAC Win Over Mass. Maritime

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team put together an inning to remember on Tuesday afternoon.

Trailing the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 3-0, the Bears scored 13 runs and sent 19 batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning.

BSU followed that outburst with a sixth-run seventh inning and coasted to a 19-9 victory over the Buccaneers at Alumni Park.

Mass. Maritime (16-15) had swept a doubleheader from the Bears (16-13) last week at home.

BSU and Mass. Maritime are now tied for third place in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference at 9-6, one game behind first-place Westfield State (10-5) and percentage points in back of Framingham State (8-5).

Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) and Cam James (Ipswich, Mass.) had three hits to lead the Bears with Flaherty driving in three runs and James a pair.

BSU, which had 14 hits and drew 13 walks, also received a pair of hits and two RBI from DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) and two hits from Steven Simon (Hanover, Mass.).

In that sixth inning, James went to the plate three times, leading off and making the final out. The other eight BSU players all had two plate appearances in the frame.

The Bears needed only six hits to score the 13 runs as they were aided by six walks, two errors and two hit batsmen.

James scored the first run of the inning on a wild pitch after he had been hit by a pitch to get things going.

After a Simon RBI single, Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) and Mathew Pigeon (Canton, Mass.) drew base-loaded walks as BSU pulled ahead, 4-3.

Prampin then delivered a two-run double and Jaden Arruda (Seekonk, Mass.) drew a bases-loaded walk for the inning's seventh run.

A fielder's choice by Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) scored another run and Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) followed with an RBI single.

Flaherty singled through the left side for two more runs and after a Simon double, scored on a wild pitch. An infield error brought in the 13th and final run of the inning.

The Bears moved the lead to 19-3 in the seventh inning.

Arruda was hit by a pitch and Emerson and Lindsday drew walks. A wild pitch scored Arruda and Flaherty's infield hit brought in Emerson.

Lindsay scored on a wild pitch, Pigeon doubled to left-center for a run and James' triple scored the last two runs.

Mass. Maritime had taken a 3-0 lead in the second on RBI singles by Alec Marsden (Marion, Mass.) and Jake Houston (Bellingham, Mass.).

The Buccaneers added four runs in the eighth inning with Bill Gorry (Wallingford, Conn.) drawing a bases-loaded walk, Houston singling up the middle for a pair of runs and Leslie contributing an RBI double.

Mass. Maritime scored a pair in the ninth on a fielder's choice and an RBI single by Damon White (Buzzards Bay, Mass.).

Reliever Michael Cobb (Waltham, Mass.), the second of five BSU pitchers, improved to 2-2. He worked 2 1/3 innings, striking out three and not allowing a hit.

BSU is at Curry College for a non-conference game Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. The Buccaneers host Framingham State on Friday at 4 p.m.

Notes: Lindsay extended his hitting streak to 12 games while Emerson has hit safely in ten consecutive games and Pigeon in eight straight.