By Jim Fenton
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Trey Yesu (Monson, Mass.) closed out the Bridgewater State University baseball team's spring break trip with an impressive pitching performance.
The junior retired the final 16 batters in his complete-game effort as the Bears edged Cairn University of Langhorne, Pa., 1-0, Friday afternoon.
Yesu gave up seven hits over the first 3 2-3 innings, struck out eight and walked only one for his first win of the season after two losses.
The Bears (3-6) went 3-5 in their eight games in South Carolina after opening the season with a loss at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Yesu has not allowed an earned run in three starts. In 17 innings this season, Yesu has given up four runs with 16 strikeouts and only two walks.
The Highlanders (7-3) had threatened to score in three of the first four innings, but Yesu escaped without giving up a run.
BSU scored the game's only run in the top of the fourth inning off sophomore Mikey Gutierrez (Cooper City, Fla.), who struck out six and gave up just four hits.
With two outs, junior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) reached on an error, winding up at second base. Senior Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.) followed with an RBI single through the right side for the Bears' first hit of the game to score the lone run.
The other hits by BSU came from senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.), who bunted in the fifth, junior Danny Jasmin (East Meadow, N.Y.), who had a two-out single to right in the seventh, and junior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.), who doubled to lead off the ninth inning.
The Bears were retired in order four times by Gutierrez.
Cairn, which is 5-2 on its spring break trip, had the bases loaded with one out in the bott of the first, but Yesu got out of the jam with a strikeout and an inning-ending ground out.
The Highlanders had three hits in the third, but a double player helped Yesu.
In the fourth, Yesu gave up a single and a double to junior Gavin Smeltzer (Millersville, Pa.), then did not allow another Cairn baserunner the rest of the game.
Senior Dylan Jackson (Levittown, Pa.) was the only player in the game with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 for Cairn.
The Bears return home Friday night and will play again on Wednesday afternoon at Dean College at 3:30 p.m.