The WNEC baseball team won its 42nd game of the season by beating Bridgewater State, 9-0, advancing to their first Division III College World Series in the 44-year history of the program with their second victory over the Bears in three days.
The Golden Bears didn't waste any time getting in the lead, exploding for five runs in the bottom of the first to take a 5-0 lead. Bridgewater starter Corey Batista was chased from the game after Mike Taylor singled to right, scoring Andrew Fatse and Mike Rubino, making it a 5-0 game. Batista stayed in the game, moving to third base. Jim Balboni came in and put runners on the corners after a wild pitch moved Taylor to third, then walked Kyle McKelvey, but then forced Matt Anthonis to fly out to right, ending the inning.
After a quiet second, the Golden Bears attacked for two more runs, with Jason LeClerc and Kyle McKelvey crossing the plate for WNEC to make it 7-0. That was more than enough for starter Kevin Jefferis to work with.
Jefferis pitched into the eighth inning after a one-out walk to Seob Yoon loaded the bases for Bridgewater State, running his pitch count to 134. Jefferis threw 7 and one-third shutout innings while allowing 7 hits, walking 4 and striking out 8.
Mike Lawlor then came in and got out of the jam by striking out Jose Polanco before Dave Billotte got caught in a rundown, finally being tagged out by the shortstop McKelvey 2-5-2-6 on the play. Lawlor then sat down the side in order in the ninth, with Bridgewater pinch hitter popping out to McKelvey to end the game, and send the Golden Bears to the College World Series.
The G-Bears will now travel to Appelton, Wisconsin to face Keystone College (PA) on Friday at 8:45 ET. Keystone won the New York Regional. It is the first time that WNEC has gone to the Division III College World Series in the 44-year history of their program.
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