BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team posted a 12-5 win over visiting Mount Saint Mary College on Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Park.
The Bears improve to 17-7 on the season, while the visiting Knights fall to 6-17. The two teams were meeting for the first time since 2008 when they split a pair of games in Cocoa, Florida.
Senior catcher Mathew Pigeon (Canton, Mass.) reached safely five times as he went 3-for-3 with a double, two walks a run and four RBI to lead the way for Bridgewater State, while senior first baseman Joey Molis (Cumberland, R.I.) was 3-for-5 at the plate with a home run, two runs and two RBI.
Junior shortstop Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and junior centerfielder Cam James (Ipswich, Mass.) also recorded multiple hits for the hosts. Lindsay singled twice and was hit by a pitch in four plate appearances, stole his team-leading 16th base of the season, scored two runs, and knocked in one. James went 2-for-5 and scored a pair of runs.
Bridgewater State sent nine batters to the plate in a five-run second inning. The Bears loaded the bases on base hits by Molis, James and freshman left fielder Dan Jasmin (East Meadow, N.Y.). Pigeon followed with a two-run double, and Jasmin raced home on a wild pitch to make it a 3-0 game. After a Knight error, Lindsay lined an RBI single into centerfield. Later in the frame, junior right fielder Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) capped off the scoring with a sacrifice fly.
Mount Saint Mary answered with five runs in the top of the third highlighted by a bases clearing three-run double off the bat of graduate left fielder Anthony Franco (Franklin Square, N.Y.).
The Bears got one back in the home half of the third. James singled with one out, advanced all the way to third on a failed pickoff attempt, and scored on a Pigeon RBI single.
Molis launched his second home run of the season, a solo blast over the left field fence, to give the hosts a 7-5 lead in the bottom of the fifth.
Bridgewater tacked on a pair of unearned runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 9-5. Lindsay doubled to deep centerfield with two outs, advanced to third a failed pickoff attempt, and raced home when sophomore second baseman Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) reached on a two-base throwing error. Wladkowski then plated Emerson with a double off the centerfield fence.
The Bears rounded out the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the eighth on back-to-back RBI singles by freshman third baseman Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.) and Molis, while Pigeon forced in a run with a bases loaded walk.
Sophomore lefthander Shane Handrahan (Raynham, Mass.) allowed five runs on eight hits over six innings to pick up his fourth win of the season. Handrahan (4-0) issued just one walk and struck out six. Freshman righthander Trey Yesu (Monson, Mass.) retired all six batters he faced with one strikeout in two perfect innings of relief, while senior righty Tyler Dasilva-Medeiros (Taunton, Mass.) worked around a hit batsman in the ninth to close out the game. Dasilva-Medeiros fanned one.
Graduate centerfielder Jack Goodwin (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and graduate shortstop Devin Tait (Staten Island, N.Y.) rapped two hits apiece to pace the Mount Saint Mary offense. Goodwin singled twice in four at bats and scored a run, while Tait also went 2-for-4 with a run.
Three Knight moundsmen combined to give up 12 runs (eight earned) on 14 hits over seven innings with two walks, a hit batter and seven strikeouts. Sophomore righthander Michael Di Tullio (Montgomery, N.Y.) struck out the side and walked one in a scoreless eighth inning.
Up Next: The Bears begin a three-game set with Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) foe Salem State University on Friday afternoon at three o'clock from Alumni Park. The Knights travel to SUNY Maritime College to take on the Privateers in a Skyline Conference twinbill on Saturday with game one getting underway at noon.