CHESTER, PA. - The Ursinus College baseball team dropped a non-conference road matchup against Widener Wednesday afternoon by a score of 9-2.
The Bears left 13 men on base during the contest, while the Pride erupted for nine runs and ten hits and held Ursinus to just two hits with runners in scoring position.
With the loss, the Bears fall to 5-8 on the season as they return to Thomas Field Saturday for their home opener against Eastern. Meanwhile, Widener improves to 7-7 on the season.
The Pride jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning after Matt Sampson singled, scoring Stephen Posner. In the third inning, junior Thomas Pancheri led off with a double and freshman Jacob Cantor followed up with a single to advance Pancheri to third. Next, Dylan Crammer singled, scoring Pancheri as Cantor advanced to second. Three straight pop outs stranded Cantor and Crammer but the Bears tied the score at one a piece. Widener answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning after doubles from Anthony Boccio and Kyle Brex made the score 4-1. Bears rookie Kieran Hollander was pulled after just going 2.2 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, and fanning three batters.
In the fourth inning, the Bears advanced Keegan Stem and Jared Minnichbach into scoring position but were unable to capitalize after a groundout to the pitcher with two outs. The Pride added an insurance run in the fourth after Brex grounded out to second that allowed Samson to cross the plate.
The Bears responded in the fifth inning with a run of their own to make the score 5-2. Solomon Griffith started with a one out double and Matteo Falcone followed up with a single to right field. After a pass ball and an intentional walk, Widener's starter Aidan O'Brien was replaced on the mound by senior Kyle Laing. Minnichbach drove in Griffith with a single but after a strikeout and a fly out to left field, the Bears stranded the bases loaded.
In the seventh, after Falcone reached base via an error, Laing was able to get out of jam after consecutive pop outs in the infield from the Bears. Widener added three more runs in the bottom half after Justin Costanzo blasted a three-run homerun to make the score 8-2. The Bears left three more runners on base in the eighth after a pop out to second ended the inning. Widener's Matt Sampson added a homerun in the bottom half of the inning to increase their lead to 9-2. Alex Mihos retired the side in order to give the Pride their second consecutive victory.
O'Brien earned the win on the mound for the Pride going 4.1 innings, allowing eight hits and striking out one. Minnichbach led the way for the Bears, going 2 for 4 at the plate with one RBI. Falcone and Crammer each had two hits as well for Ursinus.