Baseball
March 16, 2008
BRYANT SPLITS SUNDAY DOUBLEHEADER WITH No. 6 WEST CHESTER, SNAPS GOLDEN RAMS' WINNING STREAK AT 16 GAMES
WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The Bryant University baseball team rounded out its Spring Break trip Sunday, splitting an afternoon doubleheader with No. 6 West Chester University, falling 4-0 before taking a 1-0 Game Two victory.
The Bulldogs (10-9) put an end to two streaks over their week-long trip, snapping the 23-game run of No. 1 Mount Olive on Thursday before putting a stop to West Chester's 16-game, season-opening run in Sunday's second bout at Serpico Stadium, 1-0.
Rookie right-handed pitcher David O'Brien (Whitman, Mass.) pitched a one-hit, complete-game shutout in the win, as the Bulldogs capitalized on a West Chester error in the top of the first to plate the contest's only run.
Bryant's lone score started off with a Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, RI) walk, followed by a grounder, beat out by sophomore Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass.) to put runners on first and second with one out. Junior captain Pat McKenna (Orange, Conn.) walked to load up the bases, but Jeff Vigurs (South Windor, Conn.) struck out, leaving the bases juiced with two out.
But a Pat O'Connor (Mattapoisett, Mass.) grounder to third, misplayed by the Golden Rams' Jake Griesemer, allowed Stone to score.
But that was where the hitting stopped, for either side.
West Chester starter Bret Moyer (2-1) allowed just two base runners in the second inning, while O'Brien (1-0) allowed three base runners through the entire game. The two teams combined for just three hits in the contest.
O'Brien struck out three and didn't allow a walk, facing just two more than the minimum and retiring the final eight batters in the seven-inning affair.
Moyer lasted six, giving up two hits and one unearned run to go along with three walks and three strikeouts.
West Chester's Drew Pare, who ripped a linedrive past third base with one out in the fifth, was the only hit breakingup O'Brien from his first career no-hitter. Campbell and Dave Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass.) picked up Bryant's two hits.
But it was the Golden Rams who earned the shutout in the first game Sunday, stonewalling the Bulldogs for their 15th win of the season, 4-0.
West Chester scored two in the third and one each in the fifth and sixth to put Bryant away.
Kyle Bechter singled home Connor Thorp in the third inning of Game One and would later cross the plate himself on an RBI single off the bat of Blair Dameron to go up 2-0 on the visiting Bulldogs.
Matt Cotellese added to West Chester's lead in the fifth, singling up the middle to score Frank Nunan. In the sixth, Pare singled home Kevin McGrath for the Rams' 4-0 final tally.
Brent Almeida (Fairhaven, Mass.) took the loss in the opener, allowing one earned run on eight hits while striking out one. Despite going the distance, the loss moves Almeida to 0-2 on the year. Golden Ram starter David Slusser (4-0) went the distance as well, tossing a complete game four-hitter to pick up the win on the hill.
Jason Alexander (Simsbury, Conn.), Campbell, Vigurs and Muscatello each picked up hits in the first game for Bryant. Cotellese went 3-for-3 with an RBI.
Bryant returns home for a six-day break before returning to the
field, Saturday, March 22 to open 2008 Northeast-10 Conference play
with a doubleheader at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. First
pitch for Game One is scheduled at 12 p.m.
