Springfield, Mass. – March 27, 2013 – The Springfield College baseball team was defeated by crosstown-foe Western New England, 7-2, Wednesday afternoon at Trelease Park in non-conference action. The Golden Bears up their record to 7-5 while the visiting Pride drop to 3-7 on the season.

Western New England got the scoring started in the third when center fielder Jeff Schult singled, stole second base, and then came around to score on a single by senior co-captain Matt Anthonis–all with two outs in the inning. Schult had a strong day for the Golden Bears, going 3-for-5 at the plate with a run batted in.

The Pride answered with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth on RBI singles by designated hitter CJ Monroe and right fielder Billy Paskowski.

Springfield was unable to maintain a 2-1 lead, however, as the Golden Bears’ offense got to Pride starting pitcher Travis Lane (5.2 IP, 11 H, 4 ER) in the bottom half of the inning to the tune of five hits and three runs. Western New England led 4-2 on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Perun and a pair of RBI singles from Kyle McKelvey and Schult.

Western New England broke the game open in the seventh inning, when first baseman Steve Ambrosino (2-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs) knocked in a pair of runs with a single up the middle following a walk and a hit batter.

Junior Brendan Nugent (2-1) earned the win for Western New England, pitching seven innings and striking out four while allowing only four hits and two earned runs. Freshman Tom Mahoney threw the final two innings of scoreless relief, giving up just two hits. Senior Mike Rubino was impressive again at the plate by going 3-for-4.

Springfield was led offensively by cleanup hitter Mike McGowan (2-4, 1 run) and catcher Sean Smith (2-4).

The Pride will play its home opener on Thursday when it hosts Westfield State at 3:30.