SALEM, Mass. -- Salem State University took a huge step toward clinching its first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season championship since 2006 with a doubleheader sweep of the Bridgewater State Bears on Saturday afternoon at the Central Campus Baseball Field.
Salem State improves to 18-11 and remains unbeaten in MASCAC play at 10-0, while Bridgewater State slips to 15-12-1 and 5-5 in the conference.
The Bears' lost an opportunity to jump on Salem State starter Ryan Sharp (Townsend, Mass.) early in the first in game one, as lead-off hitters Tory Buck (Shelburne Falls, Mass.) and Trevor Lawson (Easton, Mass.) each singled, but were left stranded on base. Bridgewater State put two more runners on base in the second, but Sharp shutdown the side to keep the game scoreless.
Richard Fecteau (Newbury, Mass.) gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead in the second when his fly ball was misplayed into a triple, and he was brought home by a Genaro Ciulla (Peabody, Mass.) base hit.
Steve Buitkus (Reading, Mass.) increased the Vikings' lead in the third when he blasted a long solo homerun deep over the center field fence to give Salem State a 2-0 lead. However, with one swing of the bat the Bears' Sean Riley (Fairhaven, Mass.) gave his team the lead in the top of the fifth when he hit a three-run homerun over the right field fence that scored Buck and Lawson.
Salem State opened the game up in the bottom of the inning, scoring five times to take a commanding 7-3 lead. Kevin Salines (Melrose, MA) hit an RBI-single, and then scored himself to give the Vikings a 4-3 lead. The Vikings added another run on a wild pitch, and Ethan Trowt (Beverly, Mass.) provided the big blow with a two-run double. Jake Roderick (Provincetown, Mass.) replaced starter Patrick Martin (Rockland, Mass.) for the Bears and finished out the inning.
Andrew Guido (Peabody, Mass.) pitched a scoreless seventh as Sharp raised his record to 4-0 after pitching six innings, while giving up nine hits, three runs, a walk, and three strikeouts. Martin fell to 5-1, after going 4.2 innings with 11 hits, seven runs, six earned, a walk, and strikeout. Roderick finished the final 1 1/3 innings without allowing a hit.
Ed Deren (Westford, Mass.) started the second game for the Salem State Vikings and walked a runner home to give Bridgewater State an early 1-0 lead in the first. He avoided further damage when he induced an inning ending double play with the bases loaded. Salem State's Matt Burgess (Kingston, Mass.) tripled to leadoff the second, and scored on a sacrifice fly to knot the game at 1-1.
Riley again provided the Bears with momentum with his second homerun of the day, a two-run shot to right, that gave Bridgewater State a 3-1 lead. David Pierce (East Bridgewater, Mass.) followed later in the inning with a single, and generated another run won he stole back-to-back bases and scored on a Nicholas White (Bellingham, Mass.) single that increased the Bears' lead to 4-1.
Salem State, however, answered again with a five-run sixth inning as Bridgewater State again failed to protect the lead. Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, Fecteau launched a ground-rule double that brought home the first run. Mike Lamothe (Beverly, Mass.) greeted reliever Roderick, who replaced starter Bryant Warner (Harwich, MA), with a base-hit that scored Burgess, who had walked. Trowt singled home another run, and Buitkus knocked in two more runs with a base hit to center.
The Bears' Warner went 6.2 innings, giving up six hits and three runs with two walks, and three strikeouts in dropping to 0-2. Deren pitched five innings for the Vikings, giving up six hits and four runs with two strikeouts. Mike Davis (Peabody, Mass.) pitched two innings of scoreless relief to earn his first win of the year.
Legendary Red Sox player, coach and broadcaster Johnny Pesky was honored in a pre-game ceremony, as the longtime North Shore resident had the right field foul pole named in his memory.
Salem State will play out of conference for its next game at Tufts on Monday at 3:00 PM. Bridgewater State will play a MASCAC double-header on Tuesday at Mass. Maritime beginning at 2:00 PM.