Baseball Down Northwestern, Falls to Apprentice School on Opening Day

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team opened the 2012 campaign on Saturday at Vero Beach, Florida.  The Bears downed Northwestern College, 11-5, in their season-opener and then dropped a 2-1 decision to the Apprentice School.

In the opener, the Bears banged out 15 hits led by John Garabedian (Mansfield, Mass.), Sean Riley (Fairhaven, Mass.) and Tory Buck (Shelburne, Mass.), and received a solid pitching effort from Corey Batista (Fall River, Mass.).

Batista (1-0) went the first 8 1/3 innings before turning the game over to the bullpen in the ninth with the Bears holding a comfortable lead.  He allowed five runs, only one of which was earned, on 11 hits while striking out 11 and walking just one.

Garabedian went 4-for-5 with two triples, three runs scored and four batted in.  Riley reached safely four times as he was 3-for-3 with a pair of double, a walk, two runs and two RBI.  Buck finished 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, two stolen bases and four runs scored.

Bridgewater opened the scoring in the top of the first on an RBI single by Keane Costa (Fairhaven, Mass.).  Northwestern struck for a pair of unearned runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead.

Still trailing by a run, the Bears took the lead for good with a three-run fourth inning.  Garabedian tripled in the first run of the frame while Riley drove him in with an RBI double.  Riley would come around to score on Matt Barsaleau's (Holland, Mass.) base hit.

Bridgewater tacked on three more runs in the fifth as Buck belted a two-run homer and Riley added an RBI double.  Garabedian's run-scoring single in the seventh and two-run triple in the ninth gave BSU a 10-4 advantage.  Garabedian would score the Bears' final run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Trevor Lawson (Easton, Mass.).

In game two, senior right-hander Jim Balboni (Townsend, Mass.) pitched well in a losing effort for the Bears.  Balboni (0-1) went the distance giving up just the two runs on seven hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Senior left-hander Travis Franklin (Hampton, Va.) went the first six innings for the Apprentice School (5-5) to pick up the win as he gave up just an unearned run in the opening frame.  Franklin (1-0) allowed only two hits, walked two and struck out three.

The Builders scored both of their runs in the sixth inning on a pair of RBI singles by Franklin and freshman catcher Cody Norris (Yorktown, Va.). 

Junior first baseman David Pierce (East Bridgewater, Mass.), senior left fielder Ian Williams (Taunton, Mass.), and junior catcher Keane Costa (Fairhaven, Mass.) paced the Bears offensively with a hit apiece while Pierce also reached on a walk.

Bridgewater will take on Susquehanna University on Sunday at 10:00 AM.