Bridgewater baseball holds off Averett, 10-7

Bridgewater College squandered a four-run lead Thursday afternoon, but the Eagles scored a run in the eighth inning and three more in the ninth to defeat Averett, 10-7, in a non-conference baseball contest.

The Eagles snapped a scoreless tie with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Jake Bailey led off the inning with a walk and Luke Paczewski followed with a triple to center for a 1-0 Eagles’ lead. Paczewski scored on a single by Cameron Stanley, making the score 2-0. Garrison Wright then singled, but Stanley was caught off the bag at second for the second out of the inning. Auston Batten then belted a two-run homer to right, giving the Eagles a 4-0 lead.

A two-run double by Averett’s Hunter Ashworth in the bottom of the fifth cut the deficit in half, but the Eagles regained a four-run lead with two runs in the seventh inning.

Wright led off the seventh with a triple and Batten singled him home, giving the Eagles a 5-2 lead. Bailey delivered a clutch two-out single to score Batten to make it 6-2.

Averett tied the score with four runs in the bottom of the seventh. With the score 6-4, Trey Wall knotted the game at 6-6 with a two-run, two-out double to left-center.

Bridgewater regained the lead, 7-6, in the top of the eighth without the aid of a base hit as two Cougars’ errors led to the go-ahead run.

The Eagles added some insurance in the ninth by adding three runs. Two more Averett errors led to the big inning.

Chris King singled to right to lead off the inning and pinch-runner Parker Mead moved to second on Bailey’s sacrifice bunt. Paczewski was safe on an infield error and Jacob Talley followed with a run-scoring single to right. A throwing error from the outfield allowed Paczewski to also score on the play, giving the Eagles a 9-6 lead. Talley scored on a two-out single by Wright, pushing the Eagles’ lead to 10-6.

Averett loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, but a ground ball to third led to a force play at the plate for the first out of the inning. Wall then singled to right and the Cougars trailed 10-7, with just one out and the bases still full. Eagles’ releiver Kyle Jones struck out the next two batters to preserve the 10-7 victory.

Wright was 4-for-4 at the plate to lead the Eagles 13-hit attack. Batten was 2-for-5 with three RBIs and Paczewski was 2-for-4 with one run batted in.

Eagles’ freshman Spencer Griffin pitched a scoreless eighth inning and picked up the win on the mound.

Bridgewater, now 8-8 overall and 2-0 in the ODAC, returns to conference play Saturday when the Eagles travel to Lynchburg College for a doubleheader.