Baseball Falls to St. Scholastica, 6-1

VERO BEACH, Fla. – The Bridgewater State university baseball team dropped a 6-1 decision to The College of St. Scholastica on Friday afternoon at the Vero Beach Sports Village.  The Bears wrap up their Florida swing with a 4-4 record.

In a matchup of 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament participants, St. Scholastica (6-3) broke a 1-1 tie with a four-run sixth inning and added a run in the eighth to come away with the victory.

The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the fourth as  Jose Polanco (Lawrence, Mass.) led off the frame with a single, stole second, advanced to third on an infield out and scored on Jake Scott's (Somerset, Mass.) RBI groundout.  The Saints responded in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single by Austin Colvard (Little Canada, Minn.) bringing in Tyler Henderson (Taylors Falls, Minn.).

It remained tied until the bottom of the sixth. Kyle Jensen (Wyoming, Minn.) began the inning with a double that was lost in the sun. CSS then recorded three straight singles with Jordan O'Neill (Blaine, Minn.) driving in Jensen to make it 2-1. Parker Olson (Duluth, Minn.) then hit a sacrifice fly to plate Henderson. Later in the inning, a big two-out single by Andy Schwantes (Lakeville, Mass.) drove in two to make it a 5-1 St. Scholastica lead.

The Saints added one more insurance run in the eighth as Kyle Flagstad (Hinckley, Minn.) scored on a Jesse Heaton (Heyworth, Ill.) groundout to make the final score 6-1.

Padraic Getchell (Stillwater, Minn.) earned his first win as a Saint, going four innings in relief, striking out three. Thomas Rogers (Cloquet, Minn.) struck out three and allowed just one hit in two innings on the backend.  Andy Davis (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) got the start on the mound for the Saints, as he worked the first three innings, striking out two and not allowing a run.

O'Neill went 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored.

Andy Sadoski (Harwich, Mass.) worked the first 5 2/3 innings for the Bears and held the Saints in check until running into trouble in the sixth.  Sadoski gave up five runs on ten hits with three walks and four strikeouts.  Patrick Martin (Rockland, Mass.) came on in relief in the sixth and hurled 2 1/3 innings allowing one unearned run on one hit.

Sean Riley (Fairhaven, Mass.) paced Bridgewater's 11-hit attack as he went 3-for-5 with a double, while Polanco (2-for-4) and Trevor Lawson (Easton, Mass.) chipped in with two hits apiece.  Riley batted .471 (16-for-34) with three doubles, a triple, six runs and seven RBI during BSU's eight-game visit to Vero Beach.

The Bears head back north and will take on Brandeis University in their home opener on Tuesday afternoon at three.