This afternoon at Alumni Field, the Philadelphia University baseball team dropped a 10-3 decision to Bryant University, ranked number three in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Northeast Region poll.  With the victory, the Bulldogs are now 8-3 on the young season and the loss pushes the Rams to 0-3; their other defeats coming yesterday at the hands of Franklin Pierce University, currently ranked number one in the region.

Sophomore starting lefthander Brian Rousseau (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh; pictured above from today's matchup) yielded six runs (four earned) in four-plus innings and took the loss for the Rams, while junior RHP Kevin Cobb (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxboro) worked seven shutout frames to earn his second victory of the year for the visiting Bulldogs.

Bryant first baseman Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, R.I./Portsmouth) commenced the game's scoring with an RBI-single in the top of the second, and the Bulldogs would tack on two more with run-scoring sacrifice flies in the third and fourth innings.  Stone finished the day 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, one of four Bulldogs who posted multiple hits this afternoon.

Bryant cranked it up again in the top of the fifth, chasing Rousseau in the process as the Bulldogs notched three runs on four hits in the inning, most notably on an RBI triple off the bat of sophomore center fielder Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham), who proceeded to score on a subsequent fielding error.

The visitors ignited for four more in the top of the sixth, three of them charged as earned runs to freshman righthander Victor Quint (Pittsfield, Maine/Maine Central Institute), making his first career appearance for Philadelphia.  The Bulldogs closed out their scoring in the same stanza when junior designated hitter Pat O'Connor (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester) belted a two-run opposite-field home run to right, the only long ball registered on the day by either team.

The Rams finally got on the board in the eighth when Tyler Mentzer (Gettysburg, Pa./Delone Catholic) hit a leadoff double; the sophomore second baseman then scored on an RBI groundout off the bat of a fellow sophomore, first baseman Mike Anderson (Waldwick, N.J./Waldwick).  Tyler Mentzer finished the day a stellar 4-for-5 from the plate, with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored in the losing effort.

Next up for Philadelphia University is a semifinal game in the 2008 Bill Giles Invitational at nationally-ranked West Chester University this Wednesday, March 12 at 3:30 p.m.  Bryant heads south for a game tomorrow at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, N.C.; game time against the Falcons is slated for 3:00 p.m.