Baseball Slugs Past MCLA, 15-4

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team continued its impressive offensive production on Friday afternoon.

The Bears scored double-digit runs for a fourth straight game and for the 15th time this season in a 15-4 victory over the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts at Alumni Park.

BSU has scored 65 runs during its four-game winning streak. The Bears have reached 10 runs in each of their last nine victories with a combined 121 runs in those games.

Mathew Pigeon (Canton, Mass.) and Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) each had three hits, both getting a double. Steven Simon (Hanover, Mass.) and Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) had two hits and four RBI apiece with Simon homering and Selander contributing two doubles.

Also getting two hits was DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.). The Bears finished with 16 hits and took advantage of five MCLA errors and five walks.

Emerson, a junior, became the program's all-time career leader in runs scored with 148, breaking the mark of 147 set by BSU Athletic Hall of Famer Ed Grueter from 1988-91. Emerson broke the record when he scored on Simon's sixth-inning home run.

Winning pitcher Matthew Seavey (North Attleboro, Mass.) improved to 7-0 in his nine starts, striking out three and allowing three runs and six hits in six innings.

BSU (18-13) is now 10-6 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference. With five conference games to go, the Bears are in third place, a game behind first-place Westfield State (11-5) and percentage points in back of Framingham State (9-5).

BSU travels to North Adams to play a doubleheader against MCLA (5-24, 2-12 MASCAC) starting at 1 p.m. to close out the April portion of the schedule.

The Trailblazers jumped to a 3-0 lead over the Bears, scoring two in the second and one in the third.

Matthew Castillo (Ozone Park, N.Y.) walked, was sacrificed to second by Joshua Bissaillon (East Greenbush, N.Y.) and went to third on a single by Jayco Pena (Salem, Mass.).

A single through the ride side by Ty Mazzeo (Averill Park, N.Y.) scored Castillo and a fielder's choice by Matt Damon (Ancram, N.Y.) made it 2-0.

In the third, Edison Galan (Manchester, Conn.) singled and went to third on a pair of groundouts before scoring on a single down the left-field line by Bissaillon.

BSU cut the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the third with a pair of unearned runs.

Emerson doubled and Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) reached on an error. An error on a bunt by Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) scored Emerson and a sacrifice fly by Simon brought in Lindsay.

The Bears tied it in the fourth as Joe Frechette (Plymouth, Mass.) reached on a two-base error, stole third and scored on an RBI groundout by Lindsay.

BSU scored four runs in the fifth and eight in the sixth to open a 15-3 lead.

In the fifth, Simon singled up the middle and scored when a sacrifice bunt attempt by Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) went for an error. Pigeon singled Wladkowski home from third and Selander hit a two-run double down the right-field line.

Wladkowski, Pigeon and Prampin singled to load the bases in the sixth before Selander and pinch hitter Cam James (Ipswich, Mass.) hit two-run doubles.

Emerson followed with an RBI single through the left side and after Lindsay walked, Simon homered to left field. Simon is now tied with Wladkowski for the team lead with four homers.

MCLA, which had seven hits, got its last run in the ninth when a bases-loaded groundout by Castillo scored Justin Hernandez (Bronx, N.Y.), who had walked.

After Seavey left following the sixth inning, relievers Michael Cobb (Waltham, Mass.) and Harry Meehan (Gilford, N.H.) each pitched a scoreless inning before Nathan Labonte (Raynham, Mass.) finished in the ninth.

Notes: Lindsay extended his hitting streak to 14 games while Emerson has hit in 12 straight games and Pigeon in ten straight...Seavey is the third BSU pitcher since the 2000 campaign to start the season with a win in seven straight decisions. He joins former teammate David Kerns who went 8-0 in 2022, as well as BSU Hall of Famer Kevin Cadres who posted a 7-0 mark in 2000.