BRIDGEWATER, Va. -- The Bridgewater College baseball team split a doubleheader to close out the 2023 regular season against Hampden-Sydney on Senior Day at the Bridgewater Baseball Field on Monday afternoon. The Eagles picked up a 5-1 win in game one before dropping the nightcap, 14-9.

THE BASICS
Final Score: (Gm 1) Bridgewater, 5, Hampden-Sydney 1; (Gm 2) Hampden-Sydney 14, Bridgewater 9
Records: Bridgewater 16-24, 9-13 ODAC; Hampden Sydney 20-17, 13-9 ODAC

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game One:

• The first two and a half innings elapsed without much excitement as the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third inning. Brett Tharp drew a two-out walk and stole second before taking third base on a throwing error on the attempted play at second. Tharp easily came in to score on a ground-rule double from Brandan Hartman, 1-0. Hunter Clever followed suit with an RBI base hit to score Hartman from second to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. 
• The low-scoring affair continued until the eighth frame as Clever kicked off the inning with a one-out double. He moved to third on a Kyle Carlson single before Isaac Sumpter loaded the bases with a walk. Jeffrey Snider drove in Clever on a groundout before Nick Stavros singled through the right side of the infield to bring in Carlson and Sumpter to give the Eagles a 5-0 lead. 
• The Tigers attempted to get back in the game as Ryan Boyce got on base and moved to second on a single by Christian Lancaster. A ground out moved both runners into scoring position and a run came in to score on a wild pitch, but the BC pitcher, Tharp, put down the H-SC batter on strikes to see the game come to an end, 5-1, in favor of the Eagles.

GAME STATS:

• Clever and Hartman each had two-hit performances in game one as they both drove in a run and scored one as well.
• Tharp and Sumpter each scored runs in the win, while Snider had an RBI.
• Stavros was 1-for-3 at the dish with a two-run base hit.
• Reid Long went 4.1 innings in a no decision. He allowed only one hit and struck out two batters with one walk. Bowe Rogers entered in relief and tossed 2.0 innings of shutout baseball to get the victory. He struck out one and scattered just two hits. Tharp entered with a runner on in the seventh to record his eighth save of the season after striking out four Tigers and yielding one run on two hits.
• Jake Williams was strapped with the loss as he allowed two runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts and two walks in 3.0 innings. Three pitchers entered in relief for H-SC and combined to allow three runs on six hits with just one strikeout.

Game Two:

• Much like in the first game of the afternoon, Bridgewater was able to get on the board first. Clever and Collin Reid each singled to start off the home half of the second before Isaiah Blanks powered a bunt between the first baseman and the pitcher that allowed Clever to score from third, 1-0. 
• The Tigers bounced back with a big inning in the top of the third as the visitors popped three straight singles to tie the game at 1-1 before Boyce powered a three-run homer over the left field wall, 4-1. Christian Lancaster singled and Greer Farr reached on an error to extend the inning as Jay Beavers drove in a run on a single to center. After a pitching change and an infield fly, another defensive miscue loaded the bases and Trent Jones wore one on the elbow to drive in a run to get the Hampden-Sydney lead to 6-1.
• In the fifth inning, H-SC added another two runs as Lucas Burnette towered a homer to left with two outs, 8-1.
• The Eagles responded by halving the deficit by way of a three-run fifth inning. After a pitching change, Timothy Hopson got on base with a bloop single to left field. Jarret Biesecker laced a single into right field and Tharp singled to load the bases. A sacrifice fly from Hartman scored one before another RBI single from Clever made it an 8-3 game. Reid hit another sac fly, this time to center, to score Tharp and make the score 8-4.
• Hampden-Sydney put together a lengthy seventh inning as the visitors tacked on five more runs on five hits to open up a big 13-4 lead.
• Three more runs crossed home plate with one coming in off an ground ball to second and two more runs scoring on a two-run, two-out triple by Blanks to cut into the lead and set the score at 13-7.
• A quiet eighth frame for both sides brought the game to the final inning. The Tigers got one more run in the ninth as a fly ball near the right-field foul line was initially caught by a sliding Tharp who ranged in to make the play, but the ball fell out of his glove in fair territory as he slid into foul territory for a called double to score a run. 
• In the home half of the frame, Reid singled to get on before exiting the game for the last time at the BC Baseball Field in lew of a pinch runner. Ben Anderson came up with two outs and worked himself to a full count. On the payoff pitch, Anderson completed a storybook ending to his senior day game as he launched his second career home run over the right-field championship wall. The two-run trot rounded out the scoring for a 14-9 final.

GAME STATS

• Clever and Reid finished their last home games of their collegiate career with three-hit performances in the second half of the doubleheader. The duo combined for three RBI and two runs scored in the loss.
• In addition, Biesecker and Blanks each pitched in a two-hit effort in game two of their Senior Day. Blanks also had three RBI.
• Anderson delivered his second career home run in his last at-bat on his home field to close out the 2023 regular season.
• Nick Harris started the game and went 2.1 inning on the hill to take the loss. He yielded six runs (five earned) on seven hits. The Eagles used six relief pitchers over the remaining 6.2 innings.

UP NEXT
Bridgewater's regular season comes to a close holding onto the eighth spot in the ODAC standings, which means the Eagles will advance to the ODAC Tournament as the No. 8 seed. BC will head to top-seeded Lynchburg this weekend for a best-of-three series for the right to advance to the league's final weekend hosted at Pitt Field, the home of the University of Richmond Spiders.