Courtesy Bridgewater State Sports Information

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team is seeded eighth at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament and will take on top-seeded Wheaton College at 1:15 PM on Wednesday afternoon in Mansfield, Connecticut.

The eight-team, double-elimination New England Regional will take place from May 16th to May 20th at the Eastern Baseball Stadium on the campus of Eastern Connecticut State University.

Under the direction of Head Coach Rick Smith, the Bears (30-13) are making the program's 14th NCAA Division III Tournament appearance as well as their second straight.  Bridgewater captured the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament championship to earn an automatic qualifier (AQ) to the NCAAs.

In 738 games over his 19 seasons as the Bears' skipper, Smith has produced an impressive record of 479-255-4 (.652).  He has guided his teams to ten NCAA Tournament bids including regional championships in 1996 and 1997.  The 30-win season is Smith’s third since taking the reins in 1994 and the program’s fourth overall (1992, 1996, 2000, 2012).

With four games on Wednesday's docket, the regional's first game between number-four Keene State College (31-13) and fifth seed Western New England University (33-11) is set to get underway at 10:00 AM and will be followed by Wheaton (34-8) versus Bridgewater at 1:15.  Third-seeded Trinity College (32-9) will take on number six University of Southern Maine (27-17) at 4:30 PM.  The nightcap features second seed Saint Joseph’s College of Maine (35-5) and number-seven Bowdoin College (25-18) with that game slated to get underway at approximately 7:45.

Bridgewater is 1-3 against this year's New England field, with a 6-4 win over Western New England on April 27th.  The Bears dropped both games of a twinbill to Southern Maine on March 17th (9-6, 2-1) and bowed to Wheaton, 11-6, on March 27th.  Since the loss to Wheaton, however, the Bears are 22-3 and have won 15 of their last 16 games.

The Bears are led by MASCAC Player of the year, Sean Riley (2B, Fairhaven, Mass.), as well as All-MASCAC selections David Pierce (1B, East Bridgewater, Mass.), Keane Costa (C, Fairhaven, Mass.), Ian Williams (LF, Taunton, Mass.) and Craig Stewart (3B, Brockton, Mass.).

Riley is batting .390 (62-159) with eight home runs, 25 doubles, six triples, 52 runs scored and 40 runs batted in over 43 games.  He  leads all of Division III in doubles and is second in totals bases, 12th in slugging percentage and 18th in runs scored.

So far in 2012, Riley has eclipsed BSU single-season records for doubles, extra base hits and totals bases. He is also within two of the Bears' runs scored mark of 54 set by Ed Nadeau in 1997.  Riley and fellow all-conference teammates Costa and Pierce as well as centerfielder John Garabedian (Mansfield, Mass.) have tied the school record for games played with 43.

Pierce is currently batting .381 (61-160) with 12 doubles, two triples, a home run, 13 stolen bases, 25 runs scored and 40 RBI, while playing a stellar first base (.997 fielding percentage).

Costa drove in 27 runs on the season and scored 20 as he was behind the plate for all but 16 innings.  Costa rapped eight doubles and a home run and committed just one error in 278 chances for a .996 fielding percentage.  He also picked off four base runners.

Williams is batting .358 (48-134) with a home run, six doubles, 22 runs and 24 RBI.  He is ninth in the MASCAC in batting and tenth in on base percentage (.431).

Steward is second on the team with four home runs.  He has also added eight doubles, scored 27 runs and driven in 17 in 41 games which include 39 starts at third base.

The Bears unheralded pitching has been outstanding all season long with the staff posting an earned run average of 3.39 with an impressive 29 complete games.  The quintet of Jim Balboni (Townsend, Mass.), Corey Batista (Fall River, Mass.), Kenny Pennini (Millis, Mass.), Andy Sadoski (Harwich, Mass.) and Bryant Warner (Harwich, Mass.) have combined to pitch 305 2/3 of the team’s 345 innings.

Balboni is 6-4 on the season with 59 strikeouts and a 2.84 ERA in 66 2/3 innings of work.  In ten starts this season, he has seven complete games to his credit as well as a pair of shutouts.  Balboni became just the fourth hurler in BSU baseball history to reach the 20-win plateau with a complete game, 3-0 shutout of Framingham State during the MASCAC Tournament.

Batista is 7-3 on the season with 66 strikeouts and a 2.95 earned run average in 66.2 innings of work.  In ten starts, he has hurled a school record nine complete games, tying his own mark from last season.  Batista is third in all of Division III in complete games and is the Bears’ all-time leader in that category with 18 in just two seasons.

Sadoski has a posted a team-best 8-1 record with a 1.72 ERA in 62 2/3 innings on the mound.  He has appeared in ten games making eight starts, and has fanned 36 batters while opponents are batting just .216 against him.  Sadoski is one win shy of the Bears’ single-season mark of nine set by Chris Welch in 2000.

Pennini enters the tournament with a record of 4-2 with a 3.46 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings.  In seven starts over eight appearances he has recorded five complete games and one shutout.

Warner has split time between the bullpen and the starting rotation as she has appeared in ten games making four starts. Warner is 4-1 on the year with two saves, 39 strikeouts and a 4.46 ERA in 42 1/3 innings of work.

Defensively the Bears have been terrific throughout the 2012 campaign as the team ranks 11th in all of Division III with a .969 fielding percentage led by Pierce, Garabedian and shortstop Trevor Lawson (Easton, Mass.).  Pierce has committed just one error in 366 chances (.997), while Garabedian has been flawless in 84 chances.  Lawson has tremendous range at shortstop combined with an outstanding arm as he has recorded 53 putouts and 124 assists and helped turn 24 double plays.

Along with last season’s NCAA Tournament bid, the Bears also made four consecutive trips to the NCAAs from 1989 to 1992, six straight from 1996 to 2001, and back-to-back appearances in 2003 and 2004.  The 1996 team won the New England Regional and finished third at the World Series, while the 1997 squad captured the Mid-Atlantic Regional title and placed seventh at the finals.

A total of 56 teams will be competing in the 2012 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament.  Six teams will compete at four regional sites and eight teams will compete at the other four regional sites.  Winners of the eight regional tournaments will qualify for the double-elimination championship at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin, May 25-29.