• Sun, 05/13 | Baseball vs. Wagner W, 2-1 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 05/12 | Baseball vs. Wagner W, 3-0 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 05/12 | Baseball vs. Wagner W, 3-1 (Final) BX | RC
  • Fri, 05/11 | Baseball vs. Wagner L, 3-2 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sun, 05/06 | Baseball at Monmouth L, 4-3 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 05/05 | Baseball at Monmouth W, 6-2 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 05/05 | Baseball at Monmouth L, 3-0 (Final) BX | RC
  • Fri, 05/04 | Baseball at Monmouth W, 6-5 (Final - 12 innings) PR | BX | RC | LS | V
  • Tue, 05/01 | Baseball vs. Siena L, 8-3 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sun, 04/29 | Baseball vs. Fairleigh Dickinson W, 5-1 (Final) BX | RC
 
March 1, 2009

BULLDOGS DROP PAIR TO MERCER ON ROAD ON OPENING DAY, 6-2 AND 10-9, SATURDAY NIGHT

Saturday, February 28, 2009

BULLDOGS DROP PAIR TO MERCER ON ROAD ON OPENING DAY, 6-2 AND 10-9, SATURDAY NIGHT

Game One Boxscore
Game Two Boxscore

MACON, Ga. - After rain cancelled Friday's matchups and delayed Saturday's doubleheader, the Bryant University baseball team finally got in its opening games of the 2009 season, falling to Mercer University, 6-2 and 10-9, Saturday night at Claude Smith Field.

In game one, Bryant's season opener, junior Eric Polvani (Wallingford, Conn.) made his debut in a starting role for the Bulldogs (0-2), throwing six innings with four strikeouts and allowing three runs (two earned).

The Bulldogs kept the game scoreless through the end of the third but fell behind in the fourth when John Moreland plated two with a two-RBI double.

Bryant got one back in the top of the fifth when a leadoff double from freshman DH Mike DelPonte (Tewksbury, Mass.) turned into the first Bulldog run off a Pat McKenna (Orange, Conn.) groundout.

Mercer's Casey Stewart touched the plate for a second time in the bottom of the sixth with a home run to left field off Polvani.

A trio of Mercer runs in the bottom of the seventh gave the Bears (3-3) the 6-1 edge, and the Bulldogs could muster just one more run in the top of the ninth, thanks to a passed ball and balk from Blake Mainor, but it wouldn't be enough as the Bulldogs took the 6-2 loss.

DelPonte and Jordan English (Windsor Locks, Conn.) each went 2-for-4 on the game.

In game two, the Bulldogs trailed, 4-2, after the fourth, but got runs from Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, R.I.), Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass.), Jeff Vigurs (Windsor Locks, Conn.) and Jamie Skagerlind (Holden, Mass.) to take a 6-4 advantage into the bottom of the fifth.

But when starter Dan Lozeau (Pelham, N.H.) gave up back-to-back home runs, the Bears knotted the score at 6-6.

Bryant put up a 9-6 lead after the top of the eighth, thanks to an RBI single from Stone and a two-RBI double from Vigurs, but the edge was reduced to just one after Mercer plated a pair in the bottom of the frame, 9-8.

But the Bears tied it up again on their last out of the ninth off Nick DiMauro's two-out RBI double that sent the game into extra innings, setting up Steven Karwatt's bloop single into right field that scored the winning run in the bottom half of the 10th inning for Mercer's second win of the day, 10-9.

Mark Andrews (Hillsborough, N.J.) (0-1) took the loss in game two, throwing 2.2 innings and allowing four runs on eight hits while John Hoelzer (2-0) held the Bulldogs hitless in the ninth and 10th for the win.

Vigurs plated three on 3-of-5 hitting in game two to pace the Bulldogs, while Campbell also went 3-for-5 with one RBI.

The Bulldogs were to play another doubleheader Sunday morning against the Bears, but the contests were cancelled due to weather. Bryant will next take the field at the University of Hartford on March 3 at 3 p.m.

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