For the fourth straight year, the Bridgewater State Bears are hoisting the MASCAC Baseball Tournament trophy after defeating Mass. Maritime in the if necessary game of the championship series on Sunday.

The only program to win more than two conference titles in a row, the Bears made it four straight by climbing out of the winner's bracket with three straight victories in roughly 26 hours at Alumni Park.

After winning a pair of games Saturday, top-seeded BSU clinched another title with a 15-3 triumph over the second-seeded Massachusetts Maritime Academy in a game halted in the seventh inning due to the mercy rule.

The Bears dominated the final game, scoring 10 runs in the third inning, with freshman pitcher Chase Beach (Orleans, Mass.) prevailing with a strong six innings in just his second career start.

BSU will learn this afternoon where it will be playing in the NCAA Division III tournament, which starts later in the week. The team will gather at noon for the NCAA Selection Show.

BSU had swept nine straight games while winning the MASCAC tournaments in 2022, 2023 and 2024, but this time, the Bears did it the hard way.

They bounced back from a 10-0 loss to Mass. Maritime on Friday, outscoring opponents, 39-12, to win the last three games.

"This one is my favorite," said senior second baseman Scott Emerson, named the tourney Most Valuable Player and a starter on all four title teams. "I said it right away. It was gritty. I'm really proud of everyone.

"This definitely feels the best. It was an interesting route, but it's my favorite."

The Bears (30-13) were shutout for only the third time all season when they lost to the Buccaneers (24-19) Friday. But coach Greg Zackrison was confident his deep pitching staff could enable BSU to do what had to be done to win three straight games.

"I think we took the lump, took the hit," said Zackrison of the Friday loss. "But we knew we had the arms. We kept pushing that we were going to outpitch everybody and the bats came alive.

"This one was a little more anxiety-filled than the other years. You just don't know. You run into one arm or one wind-blown ball, and all of a sudden you're on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

"But the guys really stepped up the last three games and kind of showed what we can do."

Mass. Maritime was short on pitching and went back to Thursday's starter, senior Hunter Dean (Plymouth, Mass.). The MASCAC Pitcher of the Year had thrown 135 pitches in an opening win over Framingham State and faced BSU on just two days rest.

He lasted just 2 2/3 innings, giving up five runs and five hits with Mass. Maritime making five errors in the first three innings.

The Bears raced to a 10-0 lead in the third, sending 13 hitters to the plate and taking advantage of four errors.

Senior Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) started things by singled to left and moved to second on an outfield error. Senior Brendan Flaven (Taunton, Mass.) singled to right, scoring Lindsay, and advanced on an outfield error.

A single by senior Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.) made it 2-0, and the Bears scored their next eight runs with two outs.

Junior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.) and junior Riley Thornell (Wareham, Mass.) had RBI singles, and Dean exited with BSU up, 4-0.

Senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) doubled down the line in left for a run and Emerson and Lindsay were both hit by pitches.

An infield error on a ball hit by Flaven scored two runs and junior Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) hit a three-run homer to left field.

On Saturday, Flaherty became the BSU single-season leader in homers and RBI. He now has 17 home runs and 64 RBI entering the NCAAs.

Mass. Maritime was hitless in the first three innings against Beach and scored its first run in the fifth on an RBI double by senior Jake Houston (Bellingham, Mass.).

Beach, whose longest stint this season was five innings against the Buccaneers, gave up just five hits and three runs over six solid innings while striking out four and walking one.

"Chase has kind of been under the radar," said Zackrison of the first-year pitcher who has thrown 24 1/3 innings. "He's an old school, tough kid and he wanted the ball."

The Bears scored three more in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double to left-center by Emerson, a Flaven sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Messina.

The Buccaneers scored twice in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by freshman Colsen Loughren (Cape Coral, Fla.) and an RBI double by senior Michael Estrada (Covington, La.) to make it 13-3.

Junior CJ Hess (Providence, R.I.) pitched one scoreless inning of relief for BSU, striking out two.

The game concluded in the seventh when BSU scored twice. Messina was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Selander hit a sacrifice fly to left.

Mass. Maritime used six pitchers including senior Sam Huffman (Guilford, Conn.), who started and won the 10-0 shutout against BSU Friday. But he did not get a batter out and allowed four runs.

BSU had a 12-6 edge in hits with Flaven going 3-for-4 with two RBI and Messina going 2-for-4 with three RBI.

The Bears went 4-2 against Mass. Maritime this season and have won 30 games for the third time in four years.

BSU has a conference-best nine tournament titles, rallying for the loser's bracket to win this one.

"We knew it was going to be a grind, obviously," said Emerson, who was 6-for-17 in the tourney with eight RBI, 10 runs scored and five stolen bases. "Makes it a lot harder having to win three (games) rather than one.

"I didn't lose any confidence. I knew how deep our bullpen is. I knew our guys would come ready to play 18 innings Saturday. I still had a lot of confidence."

And now, the reward is a fourth straight trip to the NCAAs.

Release courtesy of Bridgewater State Sports Information