BSU baseball needs to win out to save their 2015 season
By AJ Pascuzzo
Staff Writer
As the 2015 baseball season winds down, so does the playoff hopes for the Bridgewater State University Baseball team who control their own destiny.
With a rough start, which led to a struggling season, the Bears’ only hope in advancing their season is to win the remainder of their games.
The Bears have had a series of four doubleheaders, in which they have split this season, including three games where they have lost by one run. Not including the doubleheaders, the Bears have gotten bad luck in five total one loss games in the MASCAC.
This includes their latest doubleheader on Tues., April 21, where the Bears lost another nailbitter by one margin against Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA).
In game one, which MCLA were the victors 1-0, junior David Holmes pitched a great game for the Bears. The Bears just couldn’t find the plate and were unable to get any runs across the board for their pitching staff.
“Its hard to win games right now when we make simple errors, we just need to take advantage of mistakes and capitalize to get runs on the board,” said Holmes, who pitched a complete game in the loss.
In game two, the Bears got the timely hits they were looking for, and scored eight runs as they got the 8-1 win.
Junior rightfielder Keaghan Austin-MacInnis has been a powerful hitter for Bridgewater all season out of the clean-up position. He said of game two, “We came out hot and stroked the ball and made all the plays in the field.”
Reflecting on the season, Austin-MacInnis realizes what could have been.
“The season could be totally different,” he said. “We went through a streak where we couldn’t close games in the last inning and we lost most games by one or two runs and now we’re just trying to get better.”
Senior captain and first baseman Nick White says that his team has a high chance of continuing his final season.
“After splitting with MCLA, we need to sweep Framingham State to make the playoffs,” White said. “With the way our starting pitchers have been throwing, we have a great chance to sweep this weekend.”
Indeed a sweep is what they need as they face Framingham’s powerful batting line up, giving the Bears a true test to their destiny playoff run.
“Hopefully we can finish this weekend off strong and get a bid into the MASCAC playoffs,” White said. “All we need to do is get into the playoffs because we have proved all year long that we can compete with every team in the league.”
BSU baseball is scheduled to play Wheaton College and Western New England University in non-conference games this upcoming week, before they wrap up their conference schedule on Sat. April 25 at Framingham State.
AJ Pascuzzo is a Comment staff writer.
