BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Senior righthander Matthew Seavey (North Attleboro, Mass.) tossed eight shutout innings to lead the Bridgewater State University baseball team to a 9-0 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) victory over Salem State University on Friday afternoon at Alumni Park.
The Bears improve to 18-7 on the season and 5-2 in the MASCAC, while the visiting Vikings fall to 6-16 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
Seavey (2-2) scattered four hits, walked four and struck out seven to earn his second win of the season. He also hit two batters.
Junior right fielder Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) went 3-for-5 with a home run, a pair of doubles, two runs and three RBI to pace the Bears' 11-hit attack.
Junior shortstop Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and freshman left fielder Dan Jasmin (East Meadow, N.Y.) also recorded multiple hits for Bridgewater State. Lindsay singled twice and walked in four plater appearances. He scored two runs and knocked in one. Jasmin went 2-for-4 with a double and a run.
The Bears capitalized on a pair of SSU errors to push across an unearned run in the third. The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the eighth as the two teams combined to strand 14 runners on base over the first 7 ½ innings.
In the home half of the eighth, the BSU offense exploded for eight runs to put the game out of reach. The Bears sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning. Wladkowski doubled and scored on an RBI single by freshman third baseman Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.) to start the rally. After a Salem error put runners on second and third, freshman designated hitter Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) slapped a two-run single up the middle to extend the lead to 4-0. An RBI single by junior catcher Eric Longley (Mansfield, Mass.) followed by a squeeze bunt base hit by Lindsay and a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore second baseman Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) made it a 7-0 game. Wladkowski then belted a two-run homer over the right-centerfield fence to cap off the scoring. The home run marked Wladkowski's first of the season.
BSU senior righthander Tyler Dasilva-Medeiros (Taunton, Mass.) worked around a lead off single to close out the game in the top of the ninth.
Sophomore righty Bobby Jellison (Salem, Mass.) pitched very well in the setback for Salem State. Jellison (1-4) allowed just one unearned run on three hits over six innings with a pair of walks and four strikeouts. He also hit a batter.
Freshman right fielder Chris Simone (Milford, Conn.) reached safely three times to lead the Viking offense. Simone singled and walked twice in four trips to the plate.
Notes: Bridgewater is 56-39 versus Salem since 1981. The Bears are also 20-10 at home against the Vikings since Alumni Park opened in 1996.
Up Next: The two teams wrap up the three game MASCAC series on Saturday afternoon at Salem State. Game one of the doubleheader is slated to get underway at noon.