By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball is in the championship round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference for a fourth straight year.

The top-seeded Bears survived an elimination game Saturday afternoon, overtaking fifth-seeded Salem State University, 12-6, at Alumni Park.

BSU (28-13) must now defeat the second-seeded Massachusetts Maritime Academy twice in order to win the conference tourney for a fourth season in a row.

The Bears and Buccaneers (24-17) meet Saturday at 4:15 p.m. If BSU wins that game, it would force a final game on Sunday at noon at Alumni Park.

Mass. Maritime stayed in the winner's bracket on Friday with a 10-0 win over BSU.

The Bears had to overcome an early 5-0 deficit against Salem State (19-18) to defeat the Vikings for a fifth time this season.

BSU had opened the MASCAC tourney with a 5-4 win over Salem State on Thursday.

The Vikings scored five times in the top of the first inning and were in front, 6-2, in the fourth inning.

The Bears rallied for six runs in the fourth and never trailed again.

Senior reliever Nick Reiser (Nahant, Mass.) was the winning pitcher, improving to 2-3.

Reiser took over for Connolly at the start of the fourth inning when BSU down, 6-2.

In six scoreless innings of relief, Reiser gave up just two hits and struck out six.

Salem State jumped on BSU freshman starter Cameron Connolly (Peabody, Mass.) in the first inning.

Graduate student Jake Boucher (Wallingford, Conn.) reached on an infield single and freshman Ethan Stepputtis (Prospect, Conn.) and senior Connor Dolan (Rockland, Mass.) followed with singles to load the bases.

Junior Owen Duggan (Billerica, Mass.) was hit by a pitch to force in the first run and freshman Michael Buccaro (Guilford, Conn.) doubled in a pair of runs.

Sophomore Yabdriel Gonzalez (New Haven, Conn.) added a two-run single to right.

The Bears moved within 5-2 in the bottom of the inning off junior starter Nick Bamforth (Stoneham, Mass.).

Senior Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) walked, senior Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) had an infield hit and senior Brendan Flaven (Taunton, Mass.) was hit by a pitch.

A sacrifice fly to right by junior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) brought in a run and a groundout by senior Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.) scored the second.

Flaherty now has 58 RBI, one shy of the school record of 59 in a season held by Jeremy Winters (2003).

Salem State added a run in the third when Dolan doubled, went to third on a single by Buccaro and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gonzalez.

The Bears scored their six runs in the fourth on just three hits.

Junior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) doubled to left-center, and after a walk to junior Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.), senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) bunted for a hit.

Emerson was hit by a pitch to score Selander and two runs scored on a fielder's choice and infield error on a ball hit by Lindsay.

Flaven and Flaherty drew walks and Messina had a sacrifice fly to right for a run. Freshman Jamie Luna (Warwick, R.I.) had a single to left that scored two runs.

The Bears went up, 10-6, in the fifth when Lindsay had a two-run single to right, scoring Prampin, who had walked, and Emerson, who was hit by a pitch.

Messina led the sixth with a homer run to left field, his seventh of the season, for an 11-6 lead.

BSU scored once in the seventh when Emerson tripled to left and scored on a sacrifice fly by Flaven.

Emerson now has 11 career triples, tying the Bears' all-time record set by Ed Nadeau in 1997-98.

The Bears had 10 hits with Luna, Selander and Lindsay getting two each while Lindsay and Messina drove in three runs apiece.

Dolan and Buccaro had two hits each for the Vikings.