BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Junior Mark Claffey (Bellingham, MA) scored on a wild pitch with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth inning as host Bridgewater State College knocked off nationally ranked Eastern Connecticut State University, 5-4, in non-conference baseball action on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Park.
With the scored tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Claffey drew a walk to lead off the frame and moved to second on a passed ball. Kelly LaDow (East Falmouth, MA) then roped a double off the glove of the right fielder sending Claffey to third. With pinch hitter Tom Couet (East Freetown, MA) at the plate, Eastern elected to issue an intentional walk. However, the Warriors fourth reliever of the day threw the first pitch of the at bat to the backstop allowing Claffey to score the winning run.
The Bears improve to 16-11 with their fifth straight win. Eastern fall to 21-6 on the season. After starting out with 16 wins over their first 17 games, the Warriors are just 5-5 over the last ten.
Bridgewater right-hander Jim Balboni (Townsend, MA) stopped Eastern on two hits over five innings. He allowed just two hits but also walked four and struck out one. Balboni, who did not figure in the decision, carried a 1-0 lead into the fifth before John Parke (Middlefield, CT) drove in Shane Kingsley (Beacons Falls, CT) with a single to tie the game at one-all.
Right-hander Jim Schult (Wappingers Falls, NY) pitched six strong innings (one run, three hits, four strikeouts, two hit batters and a walk) for the visitors and departed with the Warriors leading 2-1. Eastern took their only lead of the game in the top of the seventh with Joe Cousineau (Newington, CT) plating Steve Cammuso (Rutland, MA) with a two-out RBI single.
Three Eastern pitchers could not prevent the Bears from scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth on four hits, two wild pitches, a throwing error and a sacrifice fly.
LaDow led off the frame with a double and went to third on a pinch hit single by David Dole (West Bridgewater, MA). A Brendon Elliot (Brockton, MA) sacrifice fly would plate LaDow with the tying run. Pinch runner Seob Yoon (Tokyo, Japan), who ran for Dole, advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt and moved to third on a base hit by J.T. Mooney (North Attleboro). After a strikeout, David Kiloski (Lowell, MA) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brian Medeiros (Brockton, MA) then lined a two-run single to left to give BSC a 4-2 lead.
Two-out RBI singles by Travis Bass (West Hartford, CT) and Shawn Gilblair (Windham, CT) pulled Eastern even in the top of the ninth. The Warriors left the go-ahead run in scoring position in that inning as they had runners on first and second with two outs. Bridgewater reliever Brian Guillotte (New Bedford, MA) got a big strikeout to end the inning and avoid any further damage.
Guillotte picked up the win for the Bears as he improved to 5-0 on the season. Billy Blaisdell (Chelmsford, MA) worked three plus innings in relief of Balboni as he allowed two runs on four hits.
LaDow finished 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and run scored, while Mooney went 2-for-4 and scored a run to lead BSC's nine-hit attack. Brad Koneski (North Dighton, MA) also had two hits in four at bats as he drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single in the third.
Parke had three of Eastern's nine hits as he was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Gilblair also had multiple hits as he went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
In the game, Eastern committed three errors and five pitchers combined to hit three batters and throw four wild pitches. The Warriors also had a runner thrown out stealing, were penalized for catcher's interference, and had a passed ball.
Bridgewater will host a MASCAC doubleheader against Fitchburg State College on Saturday beginning at noon. Eastern hosts UMass Dartmouth on Friday at 3 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.