VERO BEACH, Fla. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team opened the 2018 season with a doubleheader split against The Apprentice School on Saturday in Vero Beach, Florida.
In a pair of games which saw the two teams combine for 62 runs, the Bears won the opener, 18-10, while the Builders earned the split with a 19-15 victory in game two.
Game One: Bridgewater State 18, Apprentice 10
Senior third baseman Randy Frazier (Wareham, Mass.) went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and five RBI, while senior second baseman Tyler Morini (Plymouth, Mass.) went 5-for-6 with a double, three runs and two RBI to highlight the Bears' 24-hit attack. Nine of Bridgewater's 24 hits came in a nine-run third inning.
Sophomore center fielder Lewis Robinson (New Britain, Conn.) and sophomore DH Sean Casey (Braintree, Mass.) banged out three hits apiece. Robinson, who belted his first home run in a BSU uniform, went 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBI. Casey rapped three hits in six at bats, scored three runs and drove in two.
Senior shortstop Matt Levasseur (Milton, Mass.) tripled, doubled, walked and was hit by a pitch in six plate appearances. Levasseur scored three runs.
Senior right-hander Connor Birch (Bellingham, Mass.) picked up the win on the mound for the Bears. Birch (1-0) worked the first 4 1/3 innings and gave up eight runs (six earned) on ten hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Game Two: Apprentice 19, Bridgewater State 15
The Bridgewater bats were hot again in game two as the BSU batsman recorded 21 hits and were issued five walks. The Bears' defense, however, struggled to the tune of 11 errors which led to 13 unearned runs.
Bridgewater scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to erase a 14-7 deficit. Apprentice, however, answered with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth and added an unearned run in the sixth and two more unearned in the seventh to come away with the 19-15 victory.
Morini reached safely in all six plate appearances as he was a perfect 5-for-5 with a walk. Morini, who went 10-for-11 in the twinbill, scored three runs and drove in one.
Senior left fielder Alex Carey (East Bridgewater, Mass.) went 4-for-4 with a walk, double, a run and two RBI, while Levasseur was 3-for-5 with a double, two runs and four RBI.
Casey knocked out three more hits in the nightcap as he finished 3-for-6 at the plate with a pair of runs scored and two RBI. Frazier tripled, singled and walked in five plate appearances as he scored two runs and drove in two. Senior right fielder Ryan Kelleher (Danvers, Mass.) went 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk, three runs and an RBI.
Four BSU pitchers combined to give up 19 runs, only six of which were earned, on 13 hits with five walks, a hit batsman and seven strikeouts.