Bridgewater, Va.- The Bridgewater men’s baseball team dropped their first two games of the 2023 season. The Eagles lost to North Carolina Wesleyan on Feb. 10 by a score of 18-10 and on Feb 11 by 5-4. 

Feb. 10

The Battling Bishops got on the board first by getting two runs in the top of the first inning making it a 2-0 lead. The Eagles’ first-time up responded by getting three runs in their first at-bat. Senior Hunter Clever tied the game with a two-run RBI. 

Just after, Senior Colin Reid was able to walk and junior Brandan Hartman was able to knock Reid in making the score 3-2.

The Battling Bishops responded in the top of the second inning getting three runs in to make the score 5-3. The Eagles responded as senior Brett Tharp was able to draw a walk and senior Jeff Snider hit a home run to right field and made the score 5-5. 

Shortly afterward, Hartman was able to knock in Clever to make the score 6-5 in the Eagles’ favor. 

Nc. Wesleyan battled back in the third inning with a three-run home run from Jackson Hobbs. Dylan Cheeley came in for the Battling Bishops and was able to keep the Eagles’ run less for four innings. 

The Eagles grabbed some runs in the bottom of the sixth. Reid and Hartman were able to make it onto the base as well as junior Kyle Carlson who hit into a fielder’s choice. With the bases loaded and two outs, senior Jonathan Sexton was able to hit a double into deep right field and cleared the bases to make the score 17-10 in favor of Nc. Wesleyan.

Senior Evan Gagne came in and closed out the game for the Eagles. He was able to keep the Battling Bishops scoreless besides another two-run home run from Hobbs to make the final score 18-10. 

Feb. 11

The Battling Bishops got on the board first with a sacrifice fly from Hobbs that led Tyson Bass to score to give North Carolina Wesleyan a 1-0 lead in the first. 

The Eagles almost responded in the second inning, but were not able to get hit even with having two runners on the bases. 

The Battling Bishops got on the board again as Javier Quintana was able to get on base due to a fielder’s choice. He was able to score on an RBI single from Bass. 

The Eagles’ opponents scored again when Davie Mogan knocked in Bass on a two-run double. Later, the Eagles tried to turn a double play which failed and gave the Battling Bishops a 5-0 lead.

The Eagles responded with senior Jarret Biesecker who knocked in Sexton on an RBI single making it 5-1. Clever was then able to knock in Carlson to make the score 5-2. 

Shortly after, Biesecker scored because of a balk by the Battling Bishops. Snider scored following a wild pitch to make it 5-4. 

In the bottom of the ninth, senior Tharp was able to make it to third from another wild pitch and a balk. With Snider up at the plate, he hit a hard grounder to Hobbs who was not able to come up with it at first, but was able to make the throw to first to get Snider out and end the game with an Eagle loss. 

Bridgewater is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 18 in a doubleheader against McDaniel at 11 a.m. at the Bridgewater Baseball Field.