VERO BEACH, Fla. – Senior left fielder Alex Carey's (East Bridgewater, Mass.) bases loaded single with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning lifted the Bridgewater State University baseball team to a dramatic 4-3 walk-off win over Kenyon College on Wednesday in Vero Beach, Florida.
The Bears improve to 3-4 on the young season, while the Lords fall to 0-4.
The score was deadlocked at 3-3 after five innings of play and remained that way until the bottom of the tenth when the Bears loaded the bases with two outs. Senior second baseman Tyler Morini (Plymouth, Mass.) singled to start the game-winning rally and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After an out, Kenyon intentionally walked senior third baseman Randy Frazier (Wareham, Mass.) to put runners on first and second. Senior first baseman Reed Pike (Bellingham, Mass.) then worked a walk to load the bases and set the stage for Carey's heroics. Carey ripped a hard hit ground ball that deflected off the first baseman's glove and went into right field as Morini raced home from third with the winning run.
Both teams threatened in the ninth inning, but were unable to score.
Senior right-hander Jarrett Archambault (Seekonk, Mass.), who worked five-plus innings of scoreless relief, issued a lead-off walk in the top half of the ninth. Senior left-hander David Manning (North Attleboro, Mass.) came on in relief and proceeded to hit the first batter he faced. A sacrifice bunt followed by an intentional walk loaded the bases, but Manning induced an inning ending 4-6-3 double play to get out of the jam.
Carey singled to center off sophomore reliever Patrick O'Leary (Killingworth, Conn.) to lead off the bottom of the ninth and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a fly out, senior right-fielder Ryan Kelleher (Danvers, Mass.) ripped a base hit into left field, but Carey was thrown out at the plate.
Manning, who worked around a pair of two-out base hits in the tenth, picked up his first win of the season as he tossed two scoreless innings of relief. Sophomore lefty Alex McGrath (Bridgewater, Mass.) got the start for the Bears and worked the first three innings allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and a pair of strikeouts. Archambault scattered three hits and walked one with five strikeouts in his five innings of work.
The Lords got on the board with a run in the top of the first inning on an RBI triple by O'Leary. The Bears answered in the bottom of the first on a pair of RBI doubles by senior shortstop Matt Levasseur (Milton, Mass.) and Pike. Morini singled to open the frame and scored on Levasseur's two-bagger.
A run-scoring base hit by sophomore right-fielder Eric DelRosso (East Sandwich, Conn.) in the second and a sacrifice fly off the bat of O'Leary in the third gave Kenyon a 3-2 lead.
Bridgewater knotted the score at 3-3 with a run in the bottom of the fifth as the Bears took advantage of a Kenyon miscue. Senior catcher Drew Gentile (Lynn, Mass.) singled, moved to second on a bunt single by Kelleher and came around to score when Morini reached on an error.
Morini (2-for-5, 2 runs), Levasseur (2-for-5, run, RBI), Carey (2-for-5, RBI), Gentile (2-for-3, run) and Kelleher (2-for-4) each finished with two hits in the game to highlight the Bears' 11-hit attack.
Freshman left-hander Patrick Craig (Fairfield, Conn.) tossed eight strong innings for the Lords. Craig allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits with no walks and six strikeouts. O'Leary (0-1) suffered the loss in 1 2/3 innings of relief as he gave up a run on four hits and a pair of walks.
O'Leary also finished 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI, while freshman DH Trent DiFilippo (Jacksonville, Fla.) went 2-for-3.
Bridgewater State's spring break trip to Vero Beach continues on Thursday as the Bears take on Muskingum University at 11:00 AM.