Baseball Ends Season with 15-6 Loss to Mount Union in NCAA Tournament

By Jim Fenton

SALISBURY, Md. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball season came to an end Saturday morning at the NCAA Division III Salisbury Regional.

After taking an early 5-0 lead against the nationally ranked University of Mount Union, the Bears were overtaken by the Purple Raiders and were eliminated, 15-6, at the Donnie Williams Sea Gulls Baseball Stadium.

BSU (30-10) went 0-2 at the four-team regional, losing to a pair of nationally ranked teams. Sixth-ranked Salisbury University defeated the Bears, 11-2, on Friday to open the tournament.

Mount Union (32-11), which set a program record for wins with the victory over the Bears, advances to another elimination game Saturday afternoon. The Purple Raiders of Ohio will face either Salisbury or Hobart College at 3:30 p.m.

Mount Union is ranked No. 14 in the American Baseball Coaches Association poll and No. 19 in the D3baseball.com ratings.

The Bears, who received voted in the latest ABCA poll, were making their fifth straight appearance in the NCAAs and 19th overall.

BSU has won five consecutive Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships. The Bears won 30 games for the fourth time in five years.

Mount Union responded to the early five-run deficit by getting four runs in the bottom of the third and eight more in the fifth to take control.

Junior Christopher Maurer (Hudson, Ohio) was the winning pitcher, going the final 6 1/3 innings in relief of starter Luke Ickes (Green, Ohio).

Maurer is now 4-1 after allowing an unearned run on five hits with three strikeouts. Ickes went the first 2 2/3 innings and gave up five runs and nine hits.

BSU senior Trey Yesu (Monson, Mass.) took the loss, allowing five runs and seven hits in four-plus innings. He walked five and finished the season 5-4 and has a career record of 19-13.

Senior Matt Kustigian (Charlton, Mass.) gave up five runs and four hits in two-thirds of an inning. Mount Union reached Kustigian for a pair of homers, including a grand slam, in one inning after he had not allowed any in his previous 17 appearances.

Senior CJ Hess (Providence, R.I.) and sophomore Chase Beach (Orleans, Mass.) pitched the final 2 1/3 innings. Beach struck out four and allowed a run and a hit in his two innings.

The Bears outhit the Purple Raiders, 14-12, and did not commit an error. Bridgewater, however, stranded 17 runners on base including the bases loaded in both the first and fourth innings when the game was within reach.

Getting two hits each for BSU were seniors DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) and Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.), juniors Rylan Secovich (Southwick, Mass.) and Logan Petrosino (Beverly, Mass.) and sophomore Jamie Luna (Warwick, R.I.). Prampin was selected to the Salisbury Regionall All-Tournament Team.

Mount Union was led by sophomore Daniel Tome III (Cleveland, Ohio), who was 3-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored, junior Drew Denham (Alliance, Ohio), who was 3-for-4 with three RBI, and junior Trevor Szekely (Canal Fulton, Ohio) with two hits, including a grand slam.

After stranding five runners in the first two innings, BSU opened a 5-0 lead in the third, getting six hits.

Selander had a one-out single to right-center, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double to right by junior Benjamin Sepeck (Whitman, Mass.).

Prampin tripled to right-center for a 2-0 lead and scored on a ground-rule double to right by Luna.

With two outs, sophomore Jeyden Espinal (Fall River, Mass.) singled to right-center to score Luna, and after stealing second base, Espinal scored on a single through the left side by Secovich.

But the Purple Raiders, a member of the Ohio Athletic Conference, wasted little time closing the gap to 5-4, doing so in the bottom of the inning.

Junior Drew Doherty (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and freshman Jake Jung (Westlake, Ohio) walked with one out.

Mount Union then reached Yesu for three straight doubles to score the four runs.

Junior Brycen Fox (Hamilton, Ohio) doubled to left for a run, Tome had a two-run double to left-center and Denham doubled to center for a run.

The Purple Raiders took the lead for good with the eight-run outburst in the fifth inning, getting a pair of home runs.

Tome walked, Denham singled through the left side and senior Chris Tsouras (Las Vegas, Nev.) walked to load the bases.

Szekely greeted Kustigian with a grand slam to right for an 8-5 lead. It was his seventh homer of the season.

After freshman Luke Perkins (Olmstead Falls, Ohio) doubled to left-center, Doherty homered to right field, making it 10-5. It was Doherty's first homer of the season.

Jung drew a walk, stole second and went to third on a flyout before scoring on a single up the middle by Tome.

Hess replaced Kustigian, and after a stolen base, Tome scored on a single to center by Denham for a 12-5 lead.

BSU scored a run in the sixth inning when Prampin drew a walk with two outs, stole second, went to third on an error and scored on a single to left by Petrosino.

Mount Union boosted the lead to 14-6 in the sixth with two runs.

Szekely led with a triple to left scored on a double steal after Ickes had walked. A sacrifice fly to center by Doherty eventually brought Ickes home.

The lead went to 15-6 in the seventh when Tome led with a triple to right-center off Beach and Denham brought him home with a sacrifice fly.

Secovich, a transfer from Dean College finished with 52 singles, tying the BSU single-season record. The mark is also held by Ed Grueter (1991) and Scott Emerson (2025).

Secovich's 62 hits are tied for sixth on the school's single-season list with Ed Nadeau (1997) and Sean Riley (2012).

Earlier this season, Secovich set the BSU record for stolen bases and wound up with 41.

Senior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) had 27 career homers to finish second with Jay Doherty (1989-92), trailing only John Kiely (1986-87) with 29. Prampin is fourth with 24 career homers.

Yesu wraps up career ranked second all-time among the Bears' pitching leaders in both innings pitched (230.2) and starts (36), fifth in appearances (48), and tied for sixth in both wins (19) and strikeouts (169).

The Bears have nine seniors on the roster, including Yesu, Selander, Prampin, Hess, Kustigian, Flaherty, Danny Jasmin (East Meadow, N.Y.), Blake Samuelson (Millbury, Mass.) and Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.).