BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) belted a pair of home runs to lead the Bridgewater State University baseball team to an 11-2 victory over visiting Rhode Island College on Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Park. The game marked the home opener for the Bears.
Bridgewater improves to 7-6 on the season with its fifth straight win while RIC falls to 6-8. The two teams have met 25 times this century with the Bears winning 17 of the 25 contests. Prior to today's game, the last time the Bears and Anchormen met here at Alumni Park was in 2019.
BSU trailed 1-0 through 3 1/2 innings of the play before the offense eruped for 11 runs over the next three frames.
The Anchormen jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on an RBI double by senior Izaiah Rivera (Pawtucket, R.I.) who went 4-for-4 on the afternoon with a pair of doubles and two RBI.
RIC righthanded starter Samuel Gray (Rockland, Mass.) cruised through the first three innings, retiring nine in a row after giving up a leadoff single to senior Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) in the bottom of the first inning.
That would all change in the bottom of the fourth when the Bears sent nine batters to the plate. Senior Brendan Flaven (Taunton, Mass.) opened the frame with a triple to gap in left-centerfield and raced home with the tying run on an errant throw back to the infield. Junior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) doubled with one out to reignite the rally and scored the go ahead run two batters later on an RBI single by junior Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.). After a base hit by junior Oscar Vargas-Pacheco (Bound Brook, N.J.), Prampin launched a three-run blast well over the left-centerfield fence to cap off the five-run outburst.
The BSU bats went back to work in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five more runs all with two outs. A pair of walks by Selander and Thornell sandwiched around a Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.) single loaded the bases and Vargas-Pacheco cleared them with a clutch three-run double to the gap in left-centerfield. Prampin then followed with a two-run blast to left-center to stake the Bears to a 10-1 lead.
Prampin is tied for the team lead with four home runs on the season.
The Anchormen got one back in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by Rivera to cut the deficit to 10-2.
The Bears capped off the scoring in the home half of the sixth as Emerson singled, stole second, advanced to the third on a fly out and raced home on a wild pitch. The stolen base marked the 86th of Emerson's career as he tied the Bears' all-time record held by BSU Hall of Famer Ed Grueter (1989-91).
Emerson (2-5, R), Thornell (2-3, BB, 2R, RBI), Vargas-Pacheco (2-4, 2R, 3RBI) and Prampin (2-4, 2R, 5RBI) all finished with two hits apiece to lead the Bears' 12-hit attack. Emerson now has 197 hits in his career.
Junior Matt Kustigian (Charlton, Mass.) tossed a scoreless fourth inning to record his first collegiate victory in a bullpen game for the Bears. Senior lefthander Shane Handrahan (Raynham, Mass.) worked the first three innings allowing one run on two hits with a walk and a strikeout. The Bears used seven pitchers in the contest. Freshman Chase Beach (Orleans, Mass.) struck out three of the four batters he faced in a scoreless eighth inning.
Gray (0-4) was saddled with the loss for the Anchormen as he gave up five runs on seven hits over four innings with no walks and six strikeouts.
Both teams are back in action on Thursday afternoon at 3:30. The Bears travel to Curry College to take on the Colonels while the Anchormen head to Wheaton College to face the Lyons.
