Unbeaten Baseball Bests Bridgewater State Twice Tuesday

VERO BEACH, Fla.- Off to its best start since 2001, the Eastern Nazarene College baseball team rattled off a pair of wins over Bridgewater State Tuesday to remain undefeated. The Lions topped the Bears 3-1 before prevailing 4-3 in game two to secure the sweep.

Eastern Nazarene improves to 5-0 on the season with the two victories while the Bears sink to 2-4 overall.

Zachary Carmody (Babylon, N.Y.) recorded three hits and scored twice on the day. Connor Simpson (Haverhill, Mass.) finished with three hits, three walks, two runs scored, a pair of RBIs, and a stolen base. Dylan Louviaux (Mohnton, Pa.) collected two base knocks, drove in one RBI, and swiped a bag. Joshua Bombard (Rutland, Mass.) and Devin Haberstumpf (Forest Hills, N.Y.) both chipped in with two hits and an RBI.

In the first game of the twinbill, Eastern Nazarene edged Bridgewater State 3-1 to collect its fourth-consecutive victory.

The Bears snagged a quick 1-0 edge with a run in the top of the first inning. Randy Frazier singled to left to drive in Tyler Morini with two outs.

The Lions responded with a score in the home half of the frame to knot the game at 1-1. Simpson scored his league-leading 11th run of the season as he tagged up and scampered home from third on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Haberstumpf.

Eastern Nazarene plated a pair of runs in the third to claim a 3-1 advantage. Simpson crossed the dish on an outfield error before Louviaux drew a bases-loaded walk to score Anthony Esposito (Mount Royal, N.J.).

Ben Petersen (Manchester, Conn.) pitched five innings and struck out three in his first start of the spring. Xavier Faria (Assonet, Mass.) tossed one inning in his third relief appearance of the season. Haberstumpf finished the game on the mound to earn his first save of the year.

In the doubleheader conclusion, the Lions worked around four errors to log a 4-3 win over the Bears.

Eastern Nazarene chalked up a run in the second inning to capture a 1-0 lead. Simpson drove in Carmody from third base with a two-out RBI base knock.

The Lions extended their advantage to 4-0 with a three runs in the sixth. Bombard lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Carmody from third. Josue Basilis (Bronx, N.Y.) raked a two-out double to center to score Matthew Urena (Flushing, N.Y.) from second base and Simpson followed with a double to score Basilis.

Bridgewater State tallied twice in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. Frazier and Alex Carey each scored on wild pitches in the inning.

The Bears trimmed the gap to one run, 4-3, in the seventh as Ryan Kelleher crossed the dish on a single by Sean Casey.

Brenndan Rogers (Hanson, Mass.) hurled 5.1 innings in his first career start while scattering two hits and two strikeouts. Haberstumpf threw 1.2 innings to earn his second save of the day.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene is slated to take on Hilbert and Immaculata March 8 in the Sunshine State.