Baseball Rallies for 10-9 Walk-Off Win over Southern Maine

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Junior Ian Williams (Taunton, Mass.) singled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Bridgewater State University Bears a 10-9 walk-off victory over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a non-conference baseball game Wednesday at Alumni Park.

The win was the second straight for the Bears who improved to 7-5.  The Huskies had their three-game winning streak snapped to fall to 9-6.

Trailing 9-6 after six innings, the Bears rallied for one unearned run in the seventh and two unearned runs in the eighth to set the stage for Williams game-winning hit.

Junior Joshua Ferreira (Fall River, Mass.) paced the Bears' 13-hit attack with four hits, including a double, and three runs scored.  Classmate Dave Billotte (Norton, Mass.) had a double, two singles and two RBI, and Williams had a pair of singles and three RBI.

Junior right-hander Tyler Hughes (Middleboro, Mass.), who pitched the ninth inning, picked up his first win of the season.

Sophomore Chris Bernard (Scarborough, Maine) had a single, double, triple and two RBI for the Huskies.  Seniors Mike Eaton (Sabattus, Maine) and Josh Mackey (Danvers, Mass.) and sophomore Tucker White (Deerfield, N.H.) had two hits apiece.  Junior reliever Dustin Stanton (Cornish, Maine) was saddled with the loss.

The Bears scored an unearned run in the seventh on sophomore John Garabedian's (Mansfield, Mass.) groundout, and two unearned markers in the eighth when sophomore Matt Barsaleau's (Holland, Mass.) ground ball was misplayed.  In the ninth, Ferreira singled, advanced to second on a passed ball and, after an intentional walk, scored on Williams single through the left side.

Bernard ignited a four-run first-inning uprising that staked the Huskies to a 4-0 lead with a two-run single.  The other two runs scored on an infield error. After the Bears got one back, Eaton restored the Huskies four-run lead with an RBI double in the second.

The Bears tallied three in the third on a sacrifice fly by Williams and back-to-back RBI doubles from Billotte and sophomore David Pierce (East Bridgewater, Mass.).  The Bears took a 6-5 lead in the fourth on Williams' fielder's choice and an infield throwing error.

The Huskies retook the lead with two runs in the fifth on RBI singles by junior David Ricker (Winthrop, Maine) and senior Jordan Berthiaume (Berlin, Conn.).  They added two more in the sixth on a double steal and an RBI single by White to take a 9-6 advantage.

Senior left-hander Bobby Fredrickson (Halifax, Mass.) pitched well in relief for the Bears as he hurled 2 1/3 scoreless innings allowing two hits and a walk with three strikeouts.  Fredrickson and Hughes kept the Huskies off the scoreboard over the final three innings.

Both teams banged out 13 hits apiece in the game.  Southern Maine left nine runners on base while BSU stranded 13.

Southern Maine opens its Little East Conference schedule on Saturday (12:00 p.m.) when it plays a doubleheader at Western Connecticut State University.  Bridgewater State will play at Suffolk University on Thursday (3:30 p.m.).