MASCAC Baseball Tournament Preview

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team owns a 13-2 record at Alumni Park this spring, losing only a pair of non-conference games.

The Bears are hoping to keep that home-field advantage rolling over the next few days when they host the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

Winners of an unprecedented four straight conference tourney championships, top-seeded BSU opens the bid for five in a row on Thursday afternoon.

The Bears (27-8), who went 21-3 in the MASCAC and won the title by five games, will play either fourth-seeded Anna Maria College (25-15, 15-9) or fifth-seeded Westfield State University (15-24, 12-12).

Those teams square off in an elimination game at noon at Alumni Park with the winner meeting BSU 30 minutes later.

The double-elimination tourney will continue Friday and Saturday with games at noon and 3 p.m., and an if-necessary game would be Sunday at noon.

No team besides BSU has won more than two MASCAC championships in a row since the tourney began in 2001. The Bears started their run in 2022 and kept it alive last spring, coming out of the loser's bracket to defeat the Massachusetts Maritime Academy twice.

BSU lost five All-MASCAC players from that squad, but the Bears improved their conference win total this season and are the No. 1 seed for the third time in five years.

"It's kind of been a pleasant surprise the way the season has gone," said Greg Zackrison, the conference's Co-Coach of the Year. "Guys have really stepped up.

"The offense has really started to swing it. The bullpen has been the story of this year. We really haven't had starting pitchers going deep into games and the bullpen has really been making the difference."

The Bears went on a 16-game winning streak from March 27-April 20, the second-longest in program history. Westfield State stopped the streak with a 2-1 win.

BSU has a team average of .334 with a pair of hitters above .400 and five others over .300.

Junior center fielder Rylan Secovich (Southwick, Mass.), a transfer from Dean College, is batting .418 with a school-record 38 stolen bases, 56 hits and a .487 on-base percentage.

Secovich leads the MASCAC in stolen bases, breaking a BSU record set in 2003 by Jason Arraiol, and is third in average. After losing elite leadoff hitter Scott Emerson to graduation, the Bears replaced him with a productive player at the top of the order.

"I knew he was a good player," said Zackrison. "Did I think he would hit .418 with 56 hits and 38 stolen bases? No.

"Scott's the best leadoff hitter for a career I've ever had and this might be as good a leadoff season that he ever had."

Also above the .400 mark is sophomore catcher Cam Beltramini (Hanson, Mass.), who is at .412 with 42 hits and a .627 slugging percentage.

Senior first baseman Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) is batting .370 with 44 hits and junior Benjamin Sepeck (Whitman, Mass.) is hitting .365 with a MASCAC-leading 15 doubles as the DH.

Senior third baseman Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) is first in the conference with 39 RBI and is hitting .344 with eight doubles and three homers while senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) is first in the MASCAC with nine homers and has 32 RBI and a .339 average. Sophomore Jamie Luna (Warwick, R.I.) has a .310 average with 29 RBI.

"The every day consistent Flaherty, Selander, DJ, they are there," said Zackrison. "Probably the biggest and most pleasant surprise, which we had a feeling would happen, is Ben Sepeck. He's a big, strong kid and is producing.

"The top five in our lineup is very, very good. We've got two guys over .400 and I never had one over .400 before."

Senior pitcher Trey Yesu (Monson, Mass.), a first-team All-MASCAC pick, will start the tourney opener on Thursday. He is 4-3 with a 3.93 earned run average and three complete games.

Senior Danny Jasmin (East Meadow, N.Y.) is 3-0 and has 50 strikeouts in 35 innings with a 3.09 ERA as the second starter.

Senior Matt Kustigian (Charlton, Mass.) is having the best season of his career out of the bullpen, going 5-0 with a save and a 1.30 ERA.

"We always liked him," said Zackrison. "We thought he was going to be a good pitcher. He was a little unlucky. This year he's had a little bit more on the fastball. He's pitching lights out. He might be our team MVP. We've won a lot of games from innings six through nine."

Also contributing out of the bullpen are sophomore Chase Beach (Orleans, Mass.), who is 2-0 with three saves, a 1.80 ERA and 32 strikeouts, and senior CJ Hess (Providence, R.I.), who is 1-1 with three saves and a 2.76 ERA.

"Those three have been rock stars," said Zackrison. "They've been very, very good."

While the two games are taking place at BSU Thursday afternoon, there will be two other games at second-seeded Salem State.

In the noon elimination game, third-seeded Worcester State (18-18, 16-8) goes against the sixth-seeded Massachusetts Maritime Academy (20-18, 12-12). The winner plays Salem State later in the day.

The tourney winner moves on to the NCAA Division III tournament next week, and the Bears are trying to keep the good times rolling with a fifth straight automatic bid.

"We get everybody's best effort," said Zackrison. "Most of our guys who are playing have been around it. At this point, I'm hoping what has been built with the older guys, everything snowballs from year to year in terms of the culture and the standard and what's expected. This is what it is."