Baseball Drops 6-2 Decision to #1 Wooster

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. --  The Bridgewater State University baseball team dropped a 6-2 decision to top-ranked College of Wooster on Tuesday evening at the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Port Charlotte, Florida.

The Bears fall to 0-4 on the young season, while the Fighting Scots improve to 1-1. Wooster was ranked #1 in both the NCBWA/D3baseball.com and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Polls.

Senior righthander Brian Murray (McLean, Va.) worked seven solid innings to pick up the win on the mound for Wooster. Murray (1-0) allowed just one unearned run on five hits. He struck out six batters and did not issue a walk.

With the scored knotted at 1-1 in the seventh, the Fighting Scots pushed across five runs in the home half of the inning to take a 6-1 lead. The big hit of the frame was a three-run double by senior Garrett Crum (Alliance, Ohio). BSU pitchers walked three batters in the inning including a bases loaded walk to junior Dan Harwood (Brecksville, Ohio). Crum then followed with the big bases clearing two-bagger to give Wooster the five-run cushion.

The Fighting Scots opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning on junior Nick Strausbaugh's (Fredericksburg, Ohio) RBI singles. The Bears tied it at 1-1 in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior Jonathan Livolsi (Bridgewater, Mass.).

Bridgewater added a run in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by senior Dominic Precopio (Framingham, Mass.) to round out the scoring.

Precopio and freshman Ruben Gonzalez (Stoughton, Mass.) both went 3-for-4 at the plate as the duo combined for six of the Bears' eight hits on the evening. Gonzalez is 10-for-18 (.556) through his first four collegiate games.

Senior righthander Jarrett Archambault (Seekonk, Mass.) suffered the loss on the hill for Bridgewater State. Archambault (0-10 gave up three runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings of work. He walked three and fanned four.

Senior Jacob Stuursma (Hudson, Ohio) went 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI to pace the Wooster offense. Strausbaugh (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI) reached safely three times in five plate appearances.

Following an off day, the Bears take on La Roche College on Thursday morning at 11 in Port Charlotte. Wooster takes on Haverford College at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Fort Myers, Florida on Wednesday afternoon at three.