By Jim Fenton

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team won its final game at The Ripken Experience on Friday afternoon.

The Bears finished the spring break trip with a 5-3 record after defeating the State University of New York Canton, 8-5, at Ebbets Field.

Junior Rylan Secovich (Southwick, Mass.) went 2-for-3 with a double and triple and scored three times for BSU.

Secovich is batting .484 with 15 hits to lead BSU.

Senior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) drove in three runs and had a pair of hits while senior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) also had a pair of hits.

Junior Patrick Chapin (Framingham, Mass.) improved to 2-0, striking out seven in seven innings while giving up five runs and nine hits.

The Bears fell behind, 2-0, in the bottom of the first on a two-run double down the right-field line by Eliezer Vazquez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico).

BSU tied it in the third inning when a triple by Secovich plated junior Logan Petrosino (Beverly, Mass.), who had walked, followed by a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Jamie Luna (Warwick, R.I.).

The Bears took a 4-2 lead in the fourth.

Selander doubled to left center, junior Benjamin Sepeck (Whitman, Mass.) walked and senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) reached on a throw error on a sacrifice bunt with Selander scoring. A wild pitch brought in Sepeck.

BSU added a single run in the fifth on a ground-rule double to left by Flaherty, which brought in Secovich, who had doubled.

The Bears scored another run in the sixth when Luna walked with the bases loaded for a 6-2 lead.

SUNY Canton closed within 6-5 with a run in the sixth that came home on a double play and two in the seventh when senior Sal Diaz (Norwalk, Conn.) had an RBI single and scored on a wild pitch.

Flaherty had a two-run single to right in the eighth inning to score Petrosino and Secovich, who had walked.

Freshman Ethan Palmer (Attleboro, Mass.) relieved Chapin in the eighth and allowed one hit while sophomore Chase Beach (East Orleans, Mass.) picked up his second save with two strikeouts in the ninth inning.

BSU is scheduled to play Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Rhode Island College, the first of three straight road games.

The home opener is March 24 at 3 p.m. against the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.