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Courtesy Westfield State Sports Information

Westfield State 8, Massachusetts Maritime 3

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Freshman shortstop Tyler Adams (West Barnstable, MA) was 4 for 4 with a double and RBI, and freshman right fielder Matt Ferrelli (Milford, MA) was 2 for 3 with three RBI to lead Westfield State University to an 8-3 victory over Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the quarterfinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) baseball tournament on Thursday, May 2.

No. 3 seed Westfield (17-19) advances to the semi-finals and will play at No. 2 seed Framingham State on Friday, May 3, at 4:00 p.m. at Bowditch Field in Framingham. Mass. Maritime, the No. 6 seed, finishes with an 11-19 record.

The MASCAC Tournament turns into a four-team, double-elimination format for the semi-final and championship rounds. Win or lose on Friday, Westfield will play Saturday at Salem State, the No. 1 seed and host site for the Saturday-Sunday tournament games.

The Mass. Maritime-Westfield quarterfinal game was close until the Owls pulled away with a run in the sixth and a four-run uprising in the seventh inning to take a 7-1 lead.

The Owls took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff batter Dan Rokitowski rocketed a triple to the warning track in right-center field and scored on Kevin Greene’s RBI single up the middle. Andrew Medeiros reached on a fielder’s choice, swiped his 16th base in 17 attempts this season, and scored on Ferrelli’s single to right field.

Mass. Maritime sliced the deficit to 2-1 in the second inning. Everett Walsh rapped a leadoff single, advance to second on a walk, moved to third on a sacrifice bun,t and scored on Zacary Cooney’s RBI groundout.

Westfield squeezed in a run in the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-1 lead. Medeiros lined a one-out single and Ferrelli was hit by a pitch. Medeiros and Ferrelli pulled off a two-out double steal then Medeiros scored when Adams barely beat out an infield base hit.

The Owls scored its four seventh-inning runs off Mass. Maritime relief pitcher T.J. Notarangelo. Jeremy Tanguay led off with a single, Rokitowski walked and Pat McWiliams beat out a bunt  base hit. A throwing error on the bunt allowed Tanguay to score then Rokitowski scored on a passed ball. Greene walked and stole second then Ferrelli delivered a big two-run single to boost Westfield’s lead to 7-1.  The Owls went small ball, dropping three consecutive bunts, to score an unearned run in the eighth inning.

Mass. Maritime threatened to put together a big eighth inning, but it was held to two runs. A one-out, bases-loaded walk brought home the first run and Walsh’s RBI groundout scored the second run. But Westfield sophomore pitcher Peter Cassidy got out of the jam with two fly outs and a groundout.

Cassidy went the distance for mound victory. The Stonehill College transfer allowed two walks and eight hits and fanned four in the nine-inning game. Cassidy was backed by a solid defensive effort as the Owls did not commit an error for the third straight game.

Ferrelli and Adams were the only players with multiple hits in Westfield’s 11-hit attack. Matt Pelletier and Zachary Sullivan were 2 for 3 for Mass. Maritime.

Keith Sanchez shouldered the pitching loss. He allowed seven hits and no walks and struck out six in hurling the first six innings.

Courtesy Worcester State Sports Information

Worcester State 8, Bridgewater State 7 (11 innings)

Worcester, MA --- First-Year Dennis Duplessis (Marlboro, MA) smacked a two-run single down the left field line in the bottom of the eleventh inning to propel fourth-seeded Worcester State past #5 Bridgewater State, 8-7, in the first round of the MASCAC tournament this afternoon at Rockwood Park.

The Lancers (19-20) move on to the double-elimination Quarterfinals tomorrow to take on top-seeded Salem State at 3 PM. The Bears see their 2013 campaign end at 19-14-1.

Knotted 6-6 in the top of the 11th, BSU grabbed the go-ahead score on an RBI single senior Tory Buck (Shelbourne Falls, MA) to score classmate Craig Stewart (Brockton, MA).

Stewart started off the inning with a single through the left, moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a sacrifice bunt. Buck beat out a chopper to the pitcher to help the Bears stake the 7-6 edge.

The Lancers were ignited in the bottom half of the frame when sophomore Cody Osburn (Sacramento, CA) laced a double to the gap in left center with one man down.

Third-year Joe Carlier (Rockland, MA) was then hit by a pitch and both runners advanced on a ground-out, to put men at second and third with two outs.

With the game on the line, Duplessis became the hero when he ripped a 3-2 fastball down the left field line plating both runners for the decisive scores.

Both squads scored twice in the first inning for the early 2-2 tie.

Bridgewater State scored first when Buck crossed home plate on a ground-out after he singled with one out. Senior Jose Polanco (Lawrence, MA) then hit an RBI single to center field which plated classmate David Pierce (E. Bridgewater, MA) for the 2-0 advantage.

Worcester State answered in the bottom of the first as second-year David Ruggiero (Peabody, MA) blasted his third round tripper of the year over the left field fence to cut the deficit in half.

Two batters later sophomore Rob MacDonald (Waltham, MA) singled to center scoring senior Kurt Sabacinski (Worcester, MA/St. Peter Marian), who reached on an infield single for the equalizer.

The Blue and Gold plated three more runs in the second to jump out to a 5-2 lead.

Junior Dan Ubele (Tyngsboro, MA) led off the frame with a single through the right side and came around to score on a Ruggiero solo base-knock before sophomore Steve Wallace (Auburn, MA) scampered home on an error by the shortstop.

MacDonald then drove home the final run of the inning with an RBI ground-out.

The Bears came roaring back and tied the contest 5-5 with a trio of scores in the top of the third.

Senior Keane Costa (Fairhaven, MA) drove in a pair with a double down the left field line before he came across home with an unearned run on a throwing error by the pitcher.

WSU grabbed the lead again in the bottom of the fourth when Osburn hammered a double to right field plating Sabacinski, who reached on a walk to start the frame for the 6-5 edge.

The seesaw battle continued as Bridgewater State collected the tying run in the top of the fifth for the 6-6 score on a Costa run producing single up the middle.

Senior Alex Teal (Malden, MA) was then lifted in favor of sophomore Ben Libuda (Auburn, MA) who came into the game with runners on second and third as he promptly retired his next 13 batters in order to halt the Bears offense in its tracks and set-up extra baseball.

Libuda (4-1) earned the decision as he allowed just the one run on two hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts in seven innings of work out of the bullpen. Libuda was extremely efficient and had great command as he kept the ball down in the zone and registered 17 ground ball outs.

Senior Jake Roderick (Provincetown, MA) was the tough luck loser. Roderick hurled the final two innings of play and gave up two earned runs on two hits with a pair of strikeouts as he relieved third-year Patrick Martin (Rockland, MA).

Martin tossed the first 8 2/3 innings surrendering six runs (five earned) on 14 hits while walking five and fanning five on 141 pitches.

The Lancers out-slugged their opponents 16-10 for the contest as Duplessis, Ruggiero, Ubele, Osburn, Wallance, Sabacinski and senior Nick Gezotis (Westfield, MA) all chipped in with two base-knocks each as each starter registered at least one hit.

Duplessis, MacDonald and Ruggiero both had two runs driven in as Ruggerio and Sabacinski both crossed home plate twice.

Buck ended 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored while Costa had a pair of hits to go along with four runs batted in and he scored once to lead the offense for the Bears.

While there was no shortage in offensive power for the game, the two squads also struggled with men on base as the Lancers left 14 men on (eight in scoring position) and the visitors stranded eight (five in scoring position).