Bears' Baseball Struggles For Consistency

Bears’ Baseball Struggles For Consistency

04/03/2013

Emily Hayes

Comment Staff

The Bridgewater State University baseball team is still trying to find their rhythm almost halfway through the regular season, as they have a record of 7-8-1.

The Bears have been on streaks throughout the entire season, winning a game, but then losing the next, winning two here, but then losing three in a row last week. The Bears are still trying to get themselves on a roll with only the month of April left in the regular season.

Against the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth on Tuesday, the Bears pulled out 7-3 win over the Corsairs. Bridgewater State scored five runs in the top of the ninth to break a 2-2 tie for the win.

“We struggled through the first six or seven innings,” said senior captain and catcher Keane Costa. “But when the game was ending we put it together, a lot more focus and we were not losing that game. We just had everyone come together and do what they were there to do.”

In the ninth, sophomore second baseman Kevin Sugermeyer batted in two runs on a double, followed by senior designated hitter Sean Riley with an RBI single. Next, senior captain and first baseman David Pierce had a single that produced a run putting the game out of reach.

Senior second baseman Sean Riley has powered the Bears' offense this season with two home runs and 13 runs batted in. Nick Todd Photo. — Senior second baseman Sean Riley has powered the Bears’ offense this season with two home runs and 13 runs batted in. Nick Todd Photo.

Junior pitcher Patrick Martin picked up the win to improve his record to 3-0, as he allowed eight hits and one earned run in eight innings.

“We haven’t done much so far,” Costa said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do right now but I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Head coach Rick Smith has been helping move the team forward, as he has the players focusing on their fundamentals.

“We always work on the fundamentals,” Smith said. “We’re a baseball team that prides ourselves on good defense, timely hitting and position baseball.”

The team also has a considerable amount of depth from veteran seniors to new freshman who have been working together throughout the season. Smith attributed one of the team’s strengths to the depth of the group.

“We have a lot of seasoned veterans and we have a lot of new guys who can fill in the holes when we need to give the older guys a rest,” Smith said.

As for now, the team just tries to build on their win over UMass Dartmouth and try to gain some consistency in their play.

“We’re never content with anything,” Smith said. “We always can improve and we do the best we can with the weather conditions and the practice time we have to just keep getting fundamentally better and better.”

The Bridgewater State will compete again on March 4, when they travel to Johnson and Wales University. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.

Emily Hayes is a Comment staff writer. Follow her on Twitter at @em12ha or email her at e4hayes@student.bridgew.edu.