Worcester, Mass. – Visiting Coast Guard got six solid innings of work from Riley Beecher and a 2-for-2 performance from Joe Petry (Worcester, Mass.) and the Bears picked up the 8-2 win over Clark University in the New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener on Friday afternoon at Granger Field.

With the win Coast Guard improves to 5-5 overall and Cougars slip to 1-10, having dropped seven straight games.

The Bears got on the board in the first inning, scoring a pair of unearned runs and still had the bases loaded with no outs. Mike Massaro then sent a rocket that landed in the glove of first baseman Nick Kellogg (Florence, Mass.), who touched first base and then threw to second to complete the triple play, helping the Cougars' hurler Luke Crocker (Stafford, Vt.) get out of trouble.

The Bears added and unearned run in the fourth and exploded for four runs in the fifth as senior Eddie Kalankiewicz had an RBI triple, Massaro followed with an RBI double before Dave Wolinski made the score 7-0 with an RBI single.

Beecher (1-0) allowed his only run in the sixth inning when Shawn Lamothe (Bellingham, Mass.) scored on a wild pitch. He walked three and struck out four to pick up the win, his first of the season.

Senior Nick Peters allowed a run on two hits with a pair of walks and a strikeout to record his first save of the season.

Crocker went six innings for Clark, allowing six hits and seven runs – only two of which were earned.

Dennis Glynn (Jamaica Plain, Mass.) had a pair of hits for the Cougars, including a double.

Petry was 2-for-2 for Coast Guard with a pair of singles and three walks with two runs scored while Kalankiewicz drove in a pair of runs in the win.

Both teams will be back in action Saturday when they play a doubleheader in New London slated to begin at 12:00 p.m.