Game Three: #3 Oswego State 14, #4 Bridgewater State 0

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The end of the Bridgewater State University baseball season arrived in painful fashion on Saturday morning.

Sent to an elimination game bright and early at 8:30 a.m. after losing a day earlier, the fourth-seeded Bears were no match for third-seeded Oswego State of New York in the NCAA Division III Regional.

BSU got off to a slow start, trailing by 10 runs just four innings in, and were knocked out of the regional by the Lakers, 14-0, at Alumni Park.

The Bears, making their fourth straight appearance in the NCAAs, finish 30-15 while Oswego State (28-14) will play another elimination game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against either top-seeded Endicott College or second-seeded Concordia University of Texas.

After getting only five hits in the regional opener, a 5-2 loss to Endicott, BSU was held to three hits by the Lakers.

The Bears were shutout for only the fourth time this season and suffered their second worst loss of 2025.

"For some reason, we laid an egg early on," said BSU coach Greg Zackrison.

Oswego State scored three runs in the bottom of the first, two in the second, one in the third and four more in the fourth to quickly take control.

The Lakers had lost the opener Friday afternoon to Concordia on a walk-off homer in the ninth inning, but they bounced back behind a 16-hit attack and the pitching of graduate student Jacob Sanders (Auburn, N.Y.).

"I was proud of them," said Oswego State coach Scott Landers, who is also the manager of the Bourne Braves in the Cape Cod League.

"I knew we would bounce back. (Playing at) 8:30 in the morning is tough, but when I got on the bus this morning, they were ready to go.

"There's no tomorrow. We've got to live in the present and they did that."

Due to an illness that limited senior Shane Handrahan (Raynham, Mass.) to a one-inning relief appearance, BSU started freshman Chase Beach (Orleans, Mass.), who won the MASCAC championship game on Sunday.

Beach gave up five runs (three earned) in two innings and was followed to the mound by Cameron Connolly (Peabody, Mass.), Matt Kustigian (Charlton, Mass.), Nick Reiser (Nahant, Mass.) and Handrahan.

"The plan of pitching Shane got thrown out the window and we limped into this one wonder who's going to pitch game two," said Zackrison. "The silver lining is Chase and Cam got out there in a regional.

"They are probably going to be the next core for hopefully our continued run. They got their feet wet and see if they can figure out this is a lot different from pitching in mid-April."

The Lakers took a 2-0 lead on a double to left-center in the first by senior Tishawn Featherstone (Port Jervis, N.Y.), scoring junior Trey McGowan (Bluepoint, N.Y.), who had doubled, and junior Emil Sander (Skaneateles, N.Y.), who had singled.

Featherstone later scored on a fielder's choice for the 3-0 edge.

In the second, one run scored on an error and Featherstone had an RBI on a sacrifice fly, and junior Patrick May (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) added an RBI single in the third.

Oswego scored four runs in the fourth with two outs. A bunt single by sophomore TJ Harrington (Seaford, N.Y.) brought home the first run and a second run scored from second on the same play.

An error allowed the ninth run of the game to score and May had another RBI single for the 10-0 lead.

"In the first two games, we've hit well, much better situationally today than yesterday," said Landers. "We're swinging really well."

The Lakers scored their final four runs in the eighth inning. Senior Joe McLaughlin (Warwick, N.Y.) had a run-scoring double and junior Brendan Mair (Ridge, N.Y.) drove in a run with a single. A wild pitch and infield error brought in the other two runs.

The Bears' lone hits came from senior Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.), who singled in the second, junior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) who singled in the fourth, and senior Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.), who singled in the sixth.

BSU had just two runners reach second base and drew only one walk.

Sanders is now 8-1 after giving up the three hits with six strikeouts in eight innings while senior Grant Biederman (Huntington, N.Y.) retired the side in order in the ninth.

"He had really good numbers coming in," said Zackrison, of Sanders, "and he was good."

BSU won four straight MASCAC tournaments and won outright or shared the regular-season title four years in a row.

The Bears lose the program's all-time hit leader, second baseman Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.), and Lindsay, who is third all-time in hits and first
with 200 games played.

"Last year and this year, we had back-to-back cores that merged into the last two years," said Zackrison. "It's been quite a run and this is kind of like the last of the guys who started it.

"It's kind of an uneasy feeling as the coach, going, 'Alright, where do I find my next Scott and Kevin?' That's the challenge from a program standpoint."

In addition to Emerson and Lindsay, BSU loses Handrahan, Messina, outfielder Brendan Flaven (Taunton, Mass.) and pitchers Reiser and Cameron Breault (Buzzards Bay, Mass.).

"You're always going to be optimistic," said Zackrison of 2026. "It comes down to now in this new world of transfers and incoming freshmen, you never know.

"I knew we were going to have a really good middle infield this season, but other guys stepped up to pull off a 30-win season. I wouldn't have guessed that a year ago today."

Emerson finished with 243 career hits while Lindsay had 220. Emerson is second to Lindsay with 176 games played and Emerson is first with 684 at-bats while Lindsay had 660 to place second.