Baseball Splits MASCAC Twinbill with Worcester State

WORCESTER, Mass. – The visiting Bridgewater State University baseball team split a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Worcester State University on Saturday afternoon at Rockwood Park.

Bridgewater took the first game, 3-2, while Worcester earned the split with an 8-4 win in the nightcap.

The Bears see their record go to 7-10 on the season and 4-3 in the MASCAC, while the host Lancers are now 9-9 overall and 2-4 in conference play. Bridgewater State took two out of three in the three-game set as the Bears defeated the Lancers on Friday afternoon, 15-4, in Bridgewater.

Game 1 - Bridgewater State 3, Worcester State 2

Worcester State opened the afternoon with the first run of the day when Ben Palatino (Hudson, Mass.) singled with one out, stole second and scored on Michael Ferrara's (Easton, Mass.) RBI double.

The Lancers held on to the narrow lead until the sixth inning when the Bears rallied for three runs and took advantage of a pair of Worcester errors. Bridgewater loaded the bases with two outs on an error and a pair of walks. Another Lancers miscue allowed two runs to score, and Ruben Gonzalez (Stoughton, Mass.) followed with an RBI double to give the visitors a 3-1 lead.

The Lancers answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth as Ferrara singled to lead off the inning and scored all the way from first on Kevin Larkin's (Rocky Hull, Conn.) RBI double. BSU starter Matt Josselyn (Hanson, Mass.), however, induced a ground out to third and then avoided any further damage when the next batter lined into a double play.

Josselyn retired the lead off batter in the bottom of the seventh, but then gave up one-out single. David Kerns (Cambridge, Mass.) came on and induced a double play ground out with runners at the corners to end the game. The save marked Kern's second of the season.

Josselyn (1-1) picked up his first win of the season as he scattered ten hits over 6 1/3 innings of work. He did not walk a batter and fanned five.

Sean Mahan (Woburn, Mass.) gave up three unearned runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings in the setback for the Lancers. Mahan (1-2) walked three and struck out two.

Kevin Bresciani (Hopedale, Mass.) was the only Bear with multiple hits as he went 2-for-4 at the plate. Liam Bell (Wells, Maine) singled in the top of the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Game 2 - Worcester State 8, Bridgewater State 4

Bridgewater State carried some of their first game momentum into the second game of the afternoon. Gonzalez single with one out, moved to second on a ground out and scored on a Jonathan Livolsi (Bridgewater, Mass.) RBI single.

A two-run single off the bat of Michael Chavez Jr. (Hudson, Mass.) in the bottom of the second put the Lancers on top, 2-1. The Worcester offense broke the game open with a five-run, fifth inning. The Lancers banged out five hits in the frame including a pair of RBI singles from Kenan Kolanda (Sterling, Mass.) and Jake Breton (Wilbraham, Mass.) as well as Palatino's RBI double. A suicide squeeze bunt by Chavez Jr. and a BSU throwing error on the play also accounted for two runs in the inning.

Bell doubled home a run in the fifth and later scored on Bresciani's RBI single to close the gap to 7-3. Bell extended his season-long hitting streak to 14 games with the two-bagger.

Tyler Rondeau (Bourne, Mass.) doubled with two outs in the top of the sixth and came around to score on an RBI single by Alexander Pappas (Lakeville, Mass.) to make it a 7-4 game.

The Lancers answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth on Ferrara's RBI double to close out the scoring.

Kyle Gray (Braintree, Mass.) went all seven innings for the Lancers picking up his third win of the season. Gray (3-1) allowed four runs (three earned) on ten hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

Bridgewater's Shawn Smeglin (Wakefield, Mass.) was tagged with the loss as he also went the distance on the mound. Smeglin (3-2) gave up eight runs (seven earned) on 12 hits with a walk and six strikeouts.

Bresciani went 3-for-4 with an RBI to highlight the BSU offense in game two, while Matt McDonald (Randolph, Mass.) singled twice in three at bats.

The Lancers head to Fitchburg State University on Tuesday afternoon to finish the series on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The Bears travel to Mass. Maritime Academy also on Tuesday afternoon for a four o'clock MASCAC twinbill with the Buccaneers.