PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team opened the 2019 season with an 8-7 walk-off setback to Susquehanna University on Saturday afternoon in Port Charlotte, Florida.
The game marked the season-opener for both squads.
Trailing 6-5 heading into the ninth inning, the Bears rallied for a pair of runs to take a 7-6 lead. Ruben Gonzalez (Stoughton, Mass.) doubled to lead off the frame and came around to score one batter later on Jonathan Livolsi's (Bridgewater, Mass.) RBI single. Dominic Precopio (Framingham, Mass.) followed with a base hit and Matt McDonald (Randolph, Mass.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases still with nobody out. Following a shallow fly out, Livolsi was cut down at the plate on a fielder's choice ground out. Kevin Bresciani (Hopedale, Mass.), who had entered the game an inning earlier as a defensive replacement, was then hit by a pitch forcing in Precopio with the go-ahead run.
In the dramatic bottom of the ninth, however, the River Hawks loaded the bases with one out on a base hit, a walk and an intentional walk. Steve Lorenz (Feasterville-Trevose, Pa.) then won the game in walk-off fashion with a two-run single.
Gonzalez went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two runs and two RBI in his collegiate debut to highlight the Bears' 11-hit attack. He also doubled and scored on Livolsi's RBI single in the first, and singled home a pair of runs during the Bears' three-run fifth inning.
Livolsi, Precopio and Lewis Robinson (New Britain, Conn.) also finished with multiple hits for the Bears. Livolsi went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI, while Precopio was 2-for-5 at the play with an RBI double in the fifth. He also scored a run. Robinson went 2-for-5 and scored a run.
Matt Josselyn (Hanson, Mass.) pitched effectively in relief for the Bears. Josselyn allowed just one unearned run in 4 2/3 innings of work. He gave up two hits, walked three and fanned three.
David Kerns (Cambridge, Mass.) suffered the loss on the hill for the Bears as he allowed the two runs in the ninth.
Bridgewater State is back in action on Sunday at noon as the Bears take on the University of Scranton in Punta Gorda, Florida.