By Jim Fenton

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. -- The defending champion Bridgewater State University baseball team opened the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule with a loss.

The Bears were defeated by the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 7-3, Tuesday afternoon in a rematch of the last season's conference tournament championship round.

The game was played at Commodore Hendy Field after the site was changed from Alumni Park. The Bears were designated the home team in the matchup.

BSU has dropped two straight games since returning home from Myrtle Beach, S.C., and is 5-5. The Buccaneers have won four straight games and are 9-4.

Senior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) and freshman Nick Berube (Swampscott, Mass.) had five of the Bears' eight hits.

Flaherty went 3-for-4 while Berube was 2-for-3.

Mass. Maritime, which also had eight hits, was led by sophomore Colsen Loughren (Cape Coral, Fla.), who had two hits with three RBI.

Senior Michael Logiudice (Bridgewater, Mass.) and freshman Nate Kaczynski (West Lake Village, Calif.) also had two hits.

Winning pitcher Jack O'Rourke (Weymouth, Mass.), a senior, improved to 1-1, allowing a run and four hits with five strikeouts.

Junior Patrick Chapin (Framingham, Mass.) took the loss, falling to 2-1. He allowed three runs and four hits with eight strikeouts and five walks in five innings.

The Bears held a 1-0 lead after scoring in the bottom of the first without a hit.

Junior Rylan Secovich (Southwick, Mass.) walked, went to third when sophomore Jamie Luna (Warwick, R.I.) reached on an infield error. The two then executed a double steal for the run.

Mass. Maritime took a 3-1 lead in the third inning.

Sophomore Jason Bouffard (Swampscott, Mass.) and graduate student Jake Duffy (Treasure Island, Fla.) walked and Logiudice singled to load the bases.

With two outs, Loughren drove in three runs with a triple down the line in right field.

Mass. Maritime added four runs, all with two outs, in the sixth inning for a 7-1 lead.

Bouffard singled through the left side and Duffy walked before Logiudice singled up the middle for a run.

An infield error on a ball hit by Loughren scored another run before junior Damon White (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) added a two-run single up the middle.

BSU scored twice in the seventh inning to get within 7-1.

Berube singled down the right-field line, went to second when sophomore Cam Beltramini (Hanson, Mass.) walked and scored on a single down the left-field line by sophomore Jayden Espinal (Fall River, Mass.). Beltramini later scored on an infield hit by Flaherty.

BSU and Mass. Maritime will play a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 31.

The Bears open a three-game series against Fitchburg State University, hosting the Falcons at 3:30 p.m. Friday. The game was orginally slated to by played at Fitchburg.

The Buccaneers will travel to Salem State on Friday for a 3 p.m. game.

Notes: Secovich extended his season-long hitting streak to ten games with an infield single in the bottom of the sixth inning.