Baseball Falls to RIC, 6-3

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Bridgewater State University baseball team dropped a 6-3 decision to Rhode Island College on Wednesday afternoon at RIC's Pontarelli Field.

The host Anchormen improve to 8-3 on the season, while the visiting Bears fall to 2-8.

Junior starter Mike Webb (Pawtucket, R.I.) tossed five scoreless innings on the mound for the Anchormen, but did not figure in the decision. Webb, who worked out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the fifth, gave up just two hits, walked three and fanned nine as he left the game with a 3-0 lead.

Senior Tyler Walsh (Cumberland, R.I.) belted a solo home run in the bottom of the first to open the scoring. That would be the only run and hit allowed by BSU starter Jarrett Archambault (Seekonk, Mass.) who worked the first four innings. Archambault faced 14 batters as he also gave up a walk and struck out two.

The Anchormen scored two more runs in the fifth on pair of RBI singles by freshman Charlie Amarante (Bristol, R.I.) and junior Josh Silva (Seekonk, R.I.) to extend the lead to 3-0.

The Bears took advantage of an RIC error to push across three unearned runs in the top of the sixth and knot the score at 3-3. Freshman Ruben Gonzalez (Stoughton, Mass.), who reached on the miscue, scored the first run of the frame on an RBI ground out. Classmate Liam Bell (Wells, Maine) then followed with an RBI double and came around to score the game-tying run on senior Kevin Bresciani's (Hopedale, Mass.) RBI single.

The Anchormen answered with three runs in the home half of the sixth on back-to-back-to-back, two-out, run-scoring singles by junior Rommy Morel (Providence, R.I.), Amarante and sophomore Joseph Coro (North Providence, R.I.).

The  Bears loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the seventh but were unable to score. Bridgewater also put runners on first and second with one out in the ninth, but junior reliever Ryan Rotondo (Warwick, R.I.) induced a double play ground out to end the game.

Rotondo got the final three outs of the game to record his first save of the season. Rotondo worked around a walk and a hit batsmen in the ninth.

Senior Tyler Shemick (Foster, R.I.) picked up the win in relief for the Anchormen. Shemick (2-0) allowed three unearned runs on five hits and a walk in two innings of work with one strikeout.

Senior lefthander Greg Cavaioli (Leominster, Mass.) was the pitcher of record for the Bears. Cavaioli (0-1) allowed five runs on eight hits over two innings.

Amarante went 2-for-4 with one run scored and two RBI, while junior Sam Franco (Cranston, R.I.) was 2-for-4 with a run scored to highlight RIC's ten-hit attack.

Bell paced the Bridgewater State offense, going 2-for-3 with one run scored and an RBI in the setback. The Bears left ten runners on base.

In upcoming action, the Bears entertain Wentworth on Sunday afternoon at one. The Anchormen travel to Franklin Pierce College on Saturday for a doubleheader with Fitchburg State University starting at noon.