Vikings Eliminated From MASCAC Tournament

Vikings Eliminated From MASCAC Tournament

WESTFIELD, Mass.   ---  David Skiendiel finished 4-5 with three RBI as fifth-seeded Bridgewater State rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the opening round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament at Bud and Jim Hagan Field on Wednesday afternoon, posting an 14-5 win over #4 Salem State University.

With the win Bridgewater (17-20) advances to the double-elimination portion of the tournament and will face top seed and host Westfield State at 3:00 p.m. today.  Salem (19-19) is eliminated from the tournament with today's loss.

The Vikings grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, loading bases with no outs, as catcher Madoc Fisher delivered a 2-run single to left field.   A failed squeeze play led to the second out of the inning, and Bridgewater starter Jarrett Archambault retired Brendan Greene on a fly out to work out of the jam.

Salem tacked on a single run in the third and another in the fourth, as Fisher scored from third on a shallow sacrifice fly to center from Greene. Archambault again wriggled out of a jam, stranding runners at second and third to end the inning.

Bridgewater rallied for four runs in the top half of the sixth, two scoring when Dominic Precopio singled to left with the second run scoring when the fielder overran the ball, and then an RBI double from Gavin Sparkman chased Salem starter Andrew McLaughlinBrock Riley relieved McLaughlin and walked Colin Josselyn.  David Skiendiel drove in another run with a double, but Salem got out of trouble with the hidden ball trick putting out Josselyn at third with the score tied 4-4.

Bridgewater grabbed the lead in the top of the seventh with an unearned run, with two errors setting the table for Precopio's sacrifice fly which plated Liam Bell with the go-ahead run for a 5-4 Bears lead.

The Bears salted the game away with three more runs in the top of the eighth, and five in the top of the ninth, including two-run double down the left field line from Liam Bell.

Alex McGrath (2-1) picked up the win in relief for Bridgewater, pitching 2.2 innings, allowing three hits and one run while fanning four.  David Kerns came on with a three-run lead to get the final out of the eighth inning and earned his fourth save of the season.

Bell, Precopio, Kevin Bresciani, and Lewis Robinson each had a pair of hits for the Bears.

Riley (4-6) took the loss for Salem.  Shawn Rebello and Fisher each had two hits for the Vikings.

(Courtesy Westfield State Sports Information)