Bears Stun Pepperdine to Open Season, Fall to LSU

Baton Rouge, LA – Brown got the 2010 season off to a terrific start on Friday evening, scoring eight runs over the final three innings to shock national power Pepperdine 8-7 before falling to LSU 13-6 in the second half of their doubleheader. The Bears were led by sophomore Daniel Rosoff, who was 3-4 on the day, with three runs scored, four RBI’s, and a home run.

In the first game of the day, the Bears used a stunning late inning comeback to upset Pepperdine. Neither team was able to gain an advantage in the early going, as junior starter Mark Gormley turned in a terrific outing for Brown, holding the Waves to just a single run through the first four innings. Pepperdine finally broke through in the fifth, scoring three in the frame and adding two more in the sixth to take a 6-0 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, however, Bruno countered with four runs of its own, highlighted by Rosoff’s three run home run to right field. After Graham Tyler, Matt Colantonio, and Mike DiBiase reached base to load the bases with no outs, junior first baseman Pete Greskoff brought in Brown’s first run of the season with a sacrifice fly. Rosoff then stepped to the plate and crushed a pitch over the right field wall, pulling the Bears to within 6-4 after six innings.

After Pepperdine tacked on another run in the seventh to increase the lead to 7-4, it appeared that the Waves would escape with a win. However, Brown struck again in the bottom of the eighth, taking the lead with another thrilling four run inning. Though there were no extra base hits in the frame, six different Brown players reached base, with four of them coming around to score. Junior closer Matt Kimball then came in to pitch the ninth inning, where he slammed the door on Pepperdine, facing four batters in a scoreless frame. In the process, Kimball simultaneously sealed the 8-7 win for Brown and broke the career saves record for the Bears, notching his 11th save in two seasons.

In the second game of the doubleheader, host LSU knocked off the Bears by a 13-6 margin, despite another late comeback bid by Brown. The Tigers got to senior starter Will Weidig early, tallying eight runs in the second inning to take a daunting 8-0 lead, which would hold up through the end of the fourth frame.

The Bears finally broke through in the top of the fifth, scoring on sophomore Graham Tyler’s two-run single to cut the margin to 8-2. LSU answered back in the bottom of the frame though, coming back with four of their own to make it a 12-2 game. Bruno struck again in the sixth, as Daniel Rosoff smacked an RBI double, followed by a two-run home run from junior Ryan Zrenda, trimming the deficit to seven runs.

Each team scored once more in the late innings, but the pitching staffs for both sides stepped up as the game wore on, and the contest finished as a 13-6 LSU victory.