Baseball Posts 6-1 MASCAC Win Over Fitchburg

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team earned its first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference victory of the season Friday afternoon.

Five players had multiple hits as the Bears defeated Fitchburg State University, 6-1, at Alumni Park.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Fitchburg State, but due to field conditions was moved to BSU. The Bears were designated the away team.

Junior Benjamin Sepeck (Whitman, Mass.) was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and senior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) went 3-for-5 for BSU, which had 14 hits. Selander's single in the top of the first inning marked his 100th career hit.

Sophomore Cam Beltramini (Hanson, Mass.) had a double and triple (the first of his career) and drove in two runs in five at-bats while sophomore Jamie Luna (Warwick, R.I.) and junior Rylan Secovich (Southwick, Mass.) went 2-for-4. Secovich extended his season-long hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the top of the second inning.

Senior Danny Jasmin (East Meadow, N.Y.) started for BSU and went 4 1/3 innings, striking out six while allowing a run and three hits.

Senior Matt Kustigian (Charlton, Mass.), the winning pitcher, tossed 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief, giving up three hits to improve to 2-0.

Freshman Logan Cormier (Athol, Mass.) struck out the side in the ninth inning.

Senior Adam Wholley (Londonderry, N.H.) started for the Falcons, allowing four runs (one earned) and nine hits in six innings.

The Bears are 6-5 after breaking a two-game losing streak and 1-1 in the MASCAC while Fitchburg State is 3-11 and 1-1 in the conference.

BSU scored three times in the top of the first, all with two outs.

Freshman Nick Berube (Swampscott, Mass.) reached on an error, moved to third on a single through the right side by Selander, scored on a double to left-center by Sepeck.

Beltramini then doubled to right-center for a pair of runs.

The Falcons got one back in the bottom of the first.

Junior Jason Kelly (East Bridgewater, Mass.) drew a walk, went to third on a double down the right-field line by senior Joseph Abt (Newbury, Mass.) and scored on an error on the play.

The Bears went up, 4-1, in the fourth as Luna singled through the left side, went to third on two groundouts and scored on an infield hit by Secovich.

BSU moved the lead to 5-1 in the seventh.

With two outs, senior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) singled through the left side, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single to center by Selander.

The Bears added a run in the eighth when Beltramini led off the frame with a triple down the line in right and scored on a single to left by Luna.

The teams will square off Saturday in a doubleheader at Alumni Park beginning at noon.