By Jim Fenton

SALISBURY, Md. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team opened the NCAA Division III tournament with a loss on Friday.

The Bears were sent to the loser's bracket of a four-team double-elimination regional when they were defeated by nationally ranked Salisbury University, 11-2, at the Donnie Williams Sea Gulls Baseball Stadium.

BSU (30-9) will seek to keep its season going when it plays an elimination game Saturday at 8:30 a.m. The Bears will face either the University of Mount Union of Alliance, Ohio. Mount Union dropped a 4-1 decision to Hobart College of Geneva, N.Y.

The Bears made four errors and were held to six singles by three Sea Gulls' pitchers. Three BSU pitchers combined to allowed 11 runs (eight earned) on nine hits and seven walks.

Host Salisbury (33-9) scored five runs on only two hits with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take control against BSU, which had won six straight games and 25 of its last 28.

The Sea Gulls, making their 26th straight appearance in the NCAAs, have been to the College World Series eight times since 2001 and won the national championships in 2021 in addition to finishing second in 2022.

Winners of 13 straight games, Salisbury is sixth in the D3baseball.com poll and eighth in the American Baseball Coaches Association rankings.

Junior Aidan Brinsfield (Salisbury, Md.) improved to 9-3 this season and 19-3 in his career with the win over the Bears.

He went seven innings, allowing five hits with four strikeouts and four walks before junior Cole Williams (Silver Spring, Md.) pitched the eighth and senior Josh Rivera (Leesburg, Va.) worked the ninth.

Senior Danny Jasmin (East Meadow, N.Y.) fell to 3-1 with the loss. He went 4 2/3 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) and seven hits with two strikeouts.

Freshman Ethan Palmer (Attleboro, Mass.) allowed three runs (one earned) and one hit on one-third of an inning while freshman Logan Cormier (Athol, Mass.) went three innings, giving up three runs and one hit.

The Bears were limited to six singles with junior Rylan Secovich (Southwick, Mass.) and senior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) getting two each while senior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) and junior Benjamin Sepeck (Whitman, Mass.) had one apiece.

Salisbury took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with sophomore Jake Witter (North Potomac, Md.) getting an infield hit and senior Max Ehrhardt (Bristow, Va.) drawing a walk.

After they stole third and second, respectively, Witter scored on a throwing error while Ehrhardt came home on a sacrifice fly to left by senior Mickey Haynes (Nokesville, Va.).

BSU moved within 2-1 in the third inning as sophomore Cam Beltramini (Hanson, Mass.) walked, went to second on a single by Flaherty and to third on a groundout. He then scored on a balk.

Brinsfield then retired the next two batters to leave a pair of runners stranded.

The Sea Gulls made it 3-1 in the fourth inning as Ehrhardt singled to right, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a ground-rule double to left by Haynes.

Jasmin retired the first two batters he faced in the fifth, but Salisbury broke the game open after that, taking an 8-1 lead with a five-run inning.

Sophomore Jackson Inman (Damascus, Md.) singled to center and sophomore Jay Newton (Strafford, Va.) drew a walk, leading to Palmer taking over for Jasmin.

Inman and Newton stole bases, and a throwing error on the play scored Inman. Witter drew a walk before Ehrhardt had an RBI single for a 5-1 lead.

Junior Griffin Shirk (Fallston, Md.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Haynes walked to force in a run.

An error on a ball hit by junior Ethan Ruiz (Perry Hall, Md.) brought in the final two runs of the inning.

Salisbury made it 9-1 in the seventh with pinch runner Cole Swift (Newark, Md.), a junior who entered the game after Witter walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Ehrhardt.

The Sea Gulls scored two more in the eighth when Inman hit a two-run homer to right field, his 10th of the season.

BSU's second run came in the ninth inning with senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) walked, went to third on two wild pitches and scored on a groundout by junior Logan Petrosino (Beverly, Mass.).

If the Bears win the Saturday morning elimination game, they would play again at 3:30 p.m. with the winner of that matchup advancing to the championship round on Sunday against the lone remaining undefeated team.

BSU is in the NCAA tourney for the fifth straight year and 19th time overall.