WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester State University baseball team improved to 6-0 on the season with a non-conference doubleheader sweep of visiting Bridgewater State University on Saturday afternoon at Lyons Diamond.
All six of the Lancers wins this season have come against the Bears (1-8). Worcester baseball has won seven straight versus Bridgewater and 11 of the last 13 dating back to 2017.
Game One
Chris Elliott (Plymouth, Mass.) and Brett Bucklin (Lynn, Mass.) combined on a two-hit shutout to lead Worcester State to a 9-0 victory in game one of the doubleheader. Elliott (1-0) gave up just two hits over five innings with a walk and three strikeouts as he earned his first win of the season. Bucklin retired six of the seven batters he faced giving up just a walk and fanning four.
Zack Roberts (Northbridge, Mass.) went 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI, and Jake Breton (Wilbraham, Mass.) went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI to pace the Lancers' nine-hit attack. Nine different players scored a run for Worcester State while seven notched an RBI.
Joey Molis (Cumberland, R.I.) and Jonathan O'Donnell (Hull, Mass.) each went 1-for-3 for the Bears who had just one base runner reach second base in the contest.
Matt Josselyn (Hanson, Mass.) allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits in the setback. Josselyn (0-3) walked one and struck out three.
Game Two
Sean Devin (Lynn, Mass.) homered and drove in three runs to lead Worcester State to a 7-5 victory in game two and a sweep of the doubleheader.
The Lancers pushed across a run in the first inning on a passed ball and added three runs in the second to take a 4-0 lead. Michael Mabee Jr. (Saugus, Mass.) connected for a two-run double in the second and later scored on Thomas DiBattista's (Hudson, Mass.) sacrifice fly.
The BSU offense finally came alive in the third inning of game two. Trailing 4-0, the Bears loaded the bases with nobody out. Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) singled home Michael Catanoso (Marshfield, Mass.), who walked to lead off the inning, and Cam James (Ipswich, Mass.) followed with a two-run double to make it a one-run game. O'Donnell then rapped a two-run single up the middle to put the visitors on top, 5-4. After Kyle Suraci (Clinton, Conn.) was hit by a pitch, and with still nobody out, the Bears had a chance to add more runs on the scoreboard. Lancer reliever Cole Glassburn (Hopkinton, Mass.), however, came on and retired the next three batters to avoid any further damage.
Bridgewater's lead was short-lived as Devin connected for a two-run blast over the right field fence in the home half of the fourth to put the Lancers back on top, 6-5.
Worcester added an insurance run in the fifth on Devin's RBI groundout to round out the scoring.
The Bears stranded six runners on base over the final four innings and nine for the game.
Glassburn (1-0) tossed 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief to pick up the win for the lancers. Kevin Zarnoch Jr. (Boston, Mass.) worked around a two-out walk in the seventh inning to earn his second save of the season.
David Kerns (East Cambridge, Mass.) went the distance on the mound for the Bears in the loss. Kerns (0-3) allowed seven runs (four earned) on six hits over six innings with a walk and four strikeouts.
Wladkowski and Mathew Pigeon (Canton, Mass.) were the only batsmen with multiple hits in game two. Wladkowski went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI, while Pigeon was 2-for-3 at the plate and scored a run.
Up Next: The Bears travel to Framingham State University next Friday afternoon for a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) doubleheader with the Rams. Game one is slated to get underway at noon. The Lancers entertain Fisher College on Wednesday with game one of the twinbill starting at 1:00 PM.