Bridgewater Va.- The Bridgewater baseball team defeated the Captains of Christopher Newport on March 8, to advance to 4-9 on the season. 

The Captains got off to a hot start with Scott Crosson knocking in a double which led Jake Benedict in for a score. Christopher Newport added two more scores at the top of the first, making the score 3-0 before the Eagles got a chance to bat. 

Fifth-year senior Jarrett Biesecker’s lead off single in the bottom of the first helped Bridgewater recover. The Eagles scored when senior Jeffrey Snider came up to bat and blasted a two-run home run over the high wall in right field. Following the blast, junior Brandan Hartman attempted a double of his own but became trapped.

At the top of the second, junior Tanner Ray took the mound and got to work, striking out the first two hitters for the Captains. The next two were walked and put Ray in a tough spot, but a play by senior Timothy Hopson ended the top of the inning for Christopher Newport.

The Eagles were able to give some run support when it came to their turn to bat by dinging in two back-to-back home runs. Snider walked to start the inning, then stole second to move into scoring position with Hartman at the plate. 

BC took its first lead of the day on the catcher’s deep fly ball to left that cleared the fence. The next batter, junior Collin Reid, increased Bridgewater’s advantage to 5-3 by turning on a pitch and hitting the ball over the high wall to the right.

“Those home runs were the turning point for us, because it made us know that we could play with them,” said Reid. 

As the next frame commenced, first-year Jaden Isidro came in for Ray and was in a tough spot with the bases loaded, but was able to get a punch out for the final out of the frame. 

“I was nervous, but that didn’t get to me,” said Isidro. “I knew I was okay and just played ball.”

In the fifth inning, sophomore Nick Griffin took over for Isidro, retiring the side in order. Griffin came back out for the sixth inning and had a speedy start with back-to-back strikeouts, but CNU got two runners from a single and a walk. 

The next batter, Benedict, popped a fastball up into foul ground, which Snider caught to finish the inning.

Sophomore James Swart stepped up to the mound for the Eagles in the seventh inning and worked his way through the frame. 

Swart grounded out to start the eighth inning but walked the following hitter, who scored the game-tying run. 

The following Captains batter was struck out by Swart, cutting the visitors’ advantage to one run after a single by Zach Dzarnowski in the following at-bat. The runner then came in to score.

Graduate student Brett Tharpe was called upon to close out the side and threw a ground ball to sophomore Cam Herron which ended the Captains’ frame. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Herron earned a walk for BC but was left on base, leaving Tharp just one run to work with. In the bottom of the ninth, the right-hander delivered and retired the side to give BC the 5-4 victory.

The next outing for the Eagles will be on March 13 at 3 p.m. when they travel to Fredericksburg to take on the 12-5 University of Mary Baldwin.