Baseball Falls to Wentworth, 14-11

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team had a three-game winning streak stopped with a non-conference loss.

The Bears were defeated by the Wentworth Technology of Institute in a slugfest, 14-11, Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Park.

The teams combined for 30 hits and used 15 pitchers in the game.

BSU (20-11) had trailed, 11-9, then tied the game in the bottom of the seventh before allowing three runs in the top of the eighth.

Wentworth (12-18) won its third straight game with an offense that was led by junior Matthew Favazzo (Lexington, Mass.) and junior Nick Cullinan (Sandy Hook, Conn.) with three hits each.

Junior Matt Robinson (Mystic, Conn.) had two hits and drove in four runs while junior Mike Sibert (Billerica, Mass.) had two hits and three RBI. Sophomore Christian Roncal (Glendale, Ariz.) reached safely six times in six plate apperances with a single, four walks and hit by pitch.

BSU senior Brendan Flaven (Taunton, Mass.) went 4-for-4 and drove in three runs. Flaven also walked as he reached safely five times.

Freshman Jamie Luna (Warwick, R.I.) had three hits while seniors Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.), who drove in three runs, and Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) had two hits apiece.

Emerson now has 226 career hits, second on the BSU all-time list behind Steve Smith, who had 231. Lindsay is fourth with 202 hits.

Emerson also stole three bases and scored a pair of runs as he increased his school-record career totals to 197 runs scored and 96 stolen bases.

Junior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) hit a home run, his 13th of the season.

Flaherty is two shy of the school record set in 1986 by John Kiely. Flaherty has seven homers in the last 10 games.

With the score tied, 11-11, the Leopards struck for three in the eighth inning.

Sibert had an RBI single and Robinson singled to center for two runs.

Wentworth held a 1-0 lead in the second when senior Jake Prisco (Bridgewater, Mass.) drew a bases-loaded walk and the Leopards went up, 5-0, in the third.

Graduate student A.T. DiPina (Pawtucket, R.I.) had an RBI double, Cullinan drove in a run with a hit and Prisco added a two-run single with two outs.

BSU got on the board in the third on an RBI single by Flaven.

The Bears got within 5-2 in the fourth on Flaherty's homer to left-center.

BSU took its first lead at 6-5 by scoring four times in the fifth.

Lindsay had a two-run triple to right-center, Flaven had an RBI single up the middle and senior Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.) drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Wentworth tied it in the sixth when a groundout scored senior Devon Lapierre (Dover, N.H.), who had singled.

BSU opened a 9-6 lead in the bottom of the inning on RBI singles by Lindsay and Flaven and a groundout brought home the third run.

Wentworth retook the lead at 11-9 in the seventh.

Sibert and Robinson each had two-run singles and Favazzo singled to right-center for a run.

The Bears tied it in the bottom of the inning as Luna delivered a run-scoring double and a throwing error brought in the tying run.

Sophomore Brandon Farinas (Lewiston, Maine), the sixth of eight pitchers got the win to improve to 2-2 while senior Brady Aubuchon (Westminster, Mass.) picked up his second save. The eight Wentworth moundsmen combined for six walks, allowed 14 hits and hit a batter.

Junior Matt Kustigian (Charlton, Mass.), the fifth of seven BSU pitchers, took the loss and is 1-1. The seven BSU hurlers combined for ten walks, hit two batters and gave up 16 hits.

All told, there were 376 pitches (161 balls/215 strikes) thrown in the game. 

The Bears return to the MASCAC Friday for a 3 p.m. game at the Mass. College of Liberal Arts.

Wentworth plays Thursday at 7 p.m. against New England College.