Baseball Posts 13-5 MASCAC Win over Mass. Maritime

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team cruised to a 13-5 victory over visiting Massachusetts Maritime Academy in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) matchup on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Park.

The host Bears improve to 5-8 on the season and 2-2 in the MASCAC, while the Buccaneers fall to 3-14 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

Freshmen Liam Bell (Wells, Maine) and Ruben Gonzalez (Stoughton, Mass.), and junior Jonathan Livolsi (Bridgewater, Mass.) and junior Lewis Robinson (New Britain, Conn.) notched two hits apiece to pace Bridgewater State's 13-hit attack. All nine starters recorded at least one hit for the Bears who also drew eight walks in the contest.

Bell went 2-for-6 with a double, two runs and an RBI as he extended his hitting streak to ten games, while Gonzalez was 2-for-4 at the plate with a double, two runs scored and four runs batted in. Livolsi doubled, singled and walked in five plate appearances as he scored a run and drove in one. Robinson went 2-for-5 with a run.

Sophomore Michael Catanoso (Marshfield, Mass.) reached safely four times in five trips to the plate. Catanoso singled, walked three times and scored three runs. Senior Kevin Bresciani (Hopedale, Mass.) went 1-for-2 with a walk, a sacrifice fly, three runs batted in and a run scored.

Junior lefthander Alex McGrath (Bridgewater, Mass.) tossed six solid innings on the mound for the Bears to record his first win of the season. McGrath (1-0) allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Sophomore righty Trever Dennett (Kingston, Mass.) worked the final three innings to notch his first collegiate save. Dennett gave up three runs, only one of which was earned, on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

Mass. Maritime actually got on the board first as senior Paul Sances (Middleboro, Mass.) scored on the back end of a double steal in the top of the third inning to give the Buccaneers a 1-0 lead.

The Bears answered with four runs in the home half of the third and tacked on four more in the fourth to jump ahead 8-1. Gonzalez double home the Bears' first run of the game in the third and rapped a two-run single in the fourth. Bresciani single home a pair of runs in the third and added a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Sophomore Ben Pain (Dartmouth, Mass.) homered over the left field fence to cut the deficit to 8-2 in the top of the fifth, but the Bears answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a balk and a fielding error and pushed across three more in the sixth to extend the lead to 13-2. Junior Tyler Rondeau (Bourne, Mass.) knocked in run with an RBI single in the sixth while two runs also scored on a pair of wild pitches.

The Buccaneers closed out the scoring with a run in the eighth and a pair of unearned runs in the ninth.

Senior Marley Dembitzki (North Dartmouth, Mass.) was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with a run and an RBI to highlight the Maritime offense. Dembitzki singled and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch in the eighth. He also singled home a run in the ninth.

Sophomore righthander Colin Thoener (Foxborough, Mass.) was tagged with the loss on the mound for the Buccaneers. Thoener (1-2) gave up eight runs (six earned) on nine hits with a walk and a strikeout. Sophomore southpaw Matt Wooster (Dover, N.H.) tossed three scoreless innings of relief. Wooster gave up just one hit and walked two.

The Bears are back in action on Thursday afternoon as they travel to Johnson & Wales University to take on the Wildcats at 3:30. The Buccaneers head to Salem State University on Friday afternoon for a 3:30 MASCAC game with the Vikings.

Notes: The Bears have already matched their season-long win total from a year ago…Gonzalez is batting .469 (23-for-49) over his first 12 collegiate games, while Bell is batting .410 (16-for-39) over his first ten.