Baseball Suffers 5-4 MASCAC Setback to Mass. Maritime

By Jim Fenton

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. -- The seven-game winning streak for the Bridgewater State University baseball team came to an end Tuesday afternoon at Hendy Field.

The Bears left 15 runners on bases and were overtaken by the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 5-4, for their first loss since March 28.

BSU stranded three runners in three of the first four innings and finished 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. The Bears were 0-for-4 with the bases loaded.

Junior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) hit a pair of home runs for BSU, giving him nine for the season. He has homered in three straight games and has at least one in five of the past six games.

The nine homers are the most by a BSU player since Andrew Dillon hit nine in 2006. The school record is 15 set by John Kiely in 1986.

The Bears held a 4-1 lead over the Buccaneers, who scored two in the bottom of the sixth and added two more in the eighth inning.

BSU is now 16-8 and 7-2 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference. It was just their second road loss in nine games.

Mass. Maritime improved to 16-12 and is 7-3 in the conference with three straight wins.

Flaherty gave BSU a 3-0 lead in the top of the first with a three-run homer to center after senior Brendan Flaven (Taunton, Mass.) and junior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) drew two-out walks.

The Buccaneers scored their first run in the second when senior Brett Velzis (Cypress, Texas) reached on an infield hit, advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a single by freshman Colsen Loughren (Cape Coral, Fla.). Velzis would score on a double play.

Flaherty hit a one-out homer to right-center in the sixth for the 4-1 lead.

Mass. Maritime closed to 4-3 in the bottom of the inning.

Graduate student Aaron Cole (Sandwich, Mass.) singled through the right side and senior AJ Pietrafesa (Harwinton, Conn.) and Loughren walked. Senior Michael Estrada (Covington, La.) was hit by a pitch for one run and junior Michael Logiudice (Bridgewater, Mass.) grounded out for the second run of the inning.

The Buccaneers won it in the eighth, scoring twice with two outs.

Estradra doubled down the left-field line and Logiudice doubled to left center and senior Jake Houston (Bellingham, Mass.) doubled to left to produce the two runs.

BSU put runners in scoring position in the ninth when junior Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.) singled and senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) had a ground-rule double with one out. But winning pitcher Brenden Baiardi (Harwinton, Conn.) got the final two outs and strikeouts.

Baiardi pitched the final five innings, striking out six and allowing one run to improve to 3-4. Maritime pitching fanned 12 batters on the afternoon.

Senior Nick Reiser (Nahant, Mass.), the fourth BSU pitcher, fell to 1-3. He allowed an inherited runner to score and gave up the winning run in one-third of an inning.

Freshman Cameron Connolly (Peabody, Mass.) started for the Bears and gave up three runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings with a walk and three strikeouts. Freshman Chase Beach (Orleans, Mass.) struck out five in 1 2/3 innings of relief allowing a run on two hits.

Flaherty and senior Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.) went 3-for-5 for BSU while Prampin was 2-for-4.

The Bears are on the road again Thursday, playing a non-conference game at Gordon College.

Mass. Maritime is at Salem State on Friday at 3 p.m.