By Jim Fenton

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball season came to an end Saturday afternoon with a second straight loss in the NCAA Division 3 tournament.

The fourth-seeded Bears were eliminated from the Harrisburg Regional when they lost to third-seeded Elizabethtown College of Pennsylvania, 8-3.

BSU (26-16) had dropped the opener of the regional on Friday, losing to host Penn State Harrisburg, 5-3, on a two-out, two-run home run in the ninth inning.

The Bears were making their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA tourney and 17th overall after winning the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference for a third year in a row.

Elizabethtown (32-13) advances to play on Sunday in another elimination game with the winner of that moving on to the championship round in the double-elimination regional. The Blue Jays opened the tourney with a 4-0 loss to Randolph-Macon.

After the start of the game was delayed due to rain, BSU jumped to a quick 3-0 lead over the Blue Jays in the bottom of the first.

Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) singled to right field with one out and Steven Simon (Hanover, Mass.) singled through the left side with two outs.

Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) then hit a long opposite-field home run to left field, his fifth of the season and 12th of his career.

But the Bears' bats went quiet after that quick outburst. Following a first inning when they had three hits, BSU managed only three more hits the rest of the way.

Elizabethtown, a member of the Landmark Conference, took the lead for good in the top of the third inning with a six-run frame.

BSU starter Matthew Seavey (North Attleboro, Mass.) had retired the Blue Jays in order in the first two innings. But Elizabethtown had four hits and took advantage of a pair of walks and had two batters hit by pitch to open a 6-3 lead.

With one out, Joe Limongell (New Hope, Pa.) homered to left field to get the Blue Jays on the scoreboard.

JM Musser (Laurel, Md.) and David Woolley (Lititz, Pa.) then drew walks and Quinten Perilli (Media, Pa.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Mason Woolwine (Mohnton, Pa.) then tied the game with a single down the left-field line.

After an infield hit by AJ Bednar (Wyoming, Pa.), RJ Agriss (North Wales, Pa.) brought in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Bryce Keller (Mount Laurel, N.J.) finished the scoring in the inning with a two-run double to left-center.

Seavey (8-1) went three innings, giving up six runs and four hits with two walks. Seavey finished his three-year BSU career 19-7 in 34 mound appearances after transferring from UMass Dartmouth.

Shane Handrahan (Raynham, Mass.) replaced Seavey to start the fourth inning. He allowed two runs and two hits with four strikeouts and six walks in 4 2-3 innings.

Elizabethtown opened a 7-3 lead in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Bednar after Woolley reached on an infield hit, went to second on a Perilli walk and stole third.

The Blue Jays added an unearned run in the eighth. Perilli was hit by a pitch and with two outs, Agriss walked. Perilli then scored on an error.

Jack Moynihan (Taunton, Mass.) and Cameron Breault (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) pitched the final 1 1-3 innings for the Bears.

BSU's offense could not get going after Wladkowski's first-inning homer.

Winning pitcher Logan Burns (Queenstown, Md.), a freshman, improved to 4-2. He went seven innings, giving up the three runs and six hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

After getting the three runs in the first, BSU went in order in the second and fourth innings.

In the third, Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) drew a two-out walk, and the Bears had two runners on in the fifth when Joe Frechette (Plymouth, Mass.) singled and Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) walked.

Simon led the sixth by reaching on an error, but a double play followed.

In the seventh, Cam James (Ipswich, Mass.) led with a double to right and went to third on a single to center by Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.).

But a grounder hit by Frechette turned into a 5-4-2 double play with James being thrown out at the plate, and a strikeout got Burns out of the inning.

In the opener on Friday against Penn State Harrisburg, the Bears had an early 3-0 lead but were held to one hit with no runs in the final five innings.

Lindsay played his 160th game for BSU and now shares the career record with John Garabedian (2010-13). Lindsay has one year of eligibility remaining with the Bears.

This was the first time that BSU and Elizabethtown had played since splitting a doubleheader in Vero Beach, Fla. on March 8, 2012.

Seven players had their BSU careers end on Saturday, a group that includes Seavey, Mathew Pigeon (Canton, Mass.), James, Wladkowski, Frechette and Kyle Suraci (Clinton, Conn.).