Game 1 Box Score 
Game 2 Box Score

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. --  Freshman Dan Connors (Danvers, Mass.) scored on a throwing error on an attempted squeeze bunt in the top of the ninth inning to give second-seeded Salem State its second Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball championship in three years with a 6-5 title game victory over third-seeded Worcester State Sunday afternoon at Massachusetts Maritime's Commodore Hendy Field.

The Vikings, who improve to 25-13 overall, earn the league's automatic berth into the 2015 NCAA Division III Baseball Championships, as the tournament field will be announced next Monday, May 11^th.  Salem State had been in the driver's seat in the MASCAC championships with a 2-0 mark in the double elimination format, but the Lancers, who fall to 27-16 overall, forced a second title game with a 9-6 victory to start Sunday's action.

Connors led off the ninth with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice and to third on a wild pitch, and he was attempting to score on the failed squeeze bunt but was caught in a rundown.  An errant throw to the backstop allows Connors to score the deciding tally for Salem State, and freshman Andrew McLaughlin (Peabody, Mass.) completed  5 2/3 innings of one-run relief by working around an error in the bottom of the frame to earn the win and punch the Vikings' ticket.

Salem State took a 1-0 lead in its first at-bat of the second championship contest on an error, but Worcester State answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly by senior David Ruggiero (Peabody, Mass.) and a squeeze bunt by senior Cody Osburn (Sacramento, Calif.).  The Vikings evened matters in the top of the second on tournament Most Valuable Player Andrew Deloury's (Andover, Mass.) RBI triple, but the Lancers grabbed a 3-2 edge in the bottom of the frame on sophomore Dan McGuill's (East Longmeadow, Mass.) squeeze bunt and extended that margin to 4-2 in the third on senior Jeff Bolio's (Oxford, Mass.) run-scoring triple.

Salem State forged a 4-4 tie in the fifth on an error and an infield single off the bat of freshman Jose Cedano (Lawrence, Mass.), and the Vikings took a 5-4 lead in the eighth when Deloury tripled and scored on junior Mike Davis's (Peabody, Mass.) sacrifice fly.  Bolio rapped out his second triple of the day to lead off the bottom of the eighth for Worcester State, as he scored on a squeeze bunt by senior Nick Gikas (Danvers, Mass.) to set up Connors' heroics in the ninth that gave Salem State its tournament title.

Deloury, Connors and senior Ryan Beliveau (Lynn, Mass.) each collected two hits to pace a nine-hit attack in the second game triumph for Salem State, as McLaughlin scattered three hits and allows a run while fanning a pair to record the final 17 outs for the Vikings and improve to 5-0 on the season.  Bolio, along with sophomores Jake Ryan (Whitinsville, Mass.) and Adam Barry (Auburn, Mass.), rapped out two hits to pace a 10-hit Worcester State attack in the nightcap, as senior Ben Libuda (Auburn, Mass.) allowed a pair of hits and fanned two in suffering the setback to fall to 5-3 for the Lancers.

Worcester State used a pair of four-run rallies in its first two at-bats of the opener to force the second championship game, as RBI singles by Ruggiero and Gikas sandwiched a pair of bases-loaded walks issued to Bolio and sophomore Mike Powers (Weymouth, Mass.) in the top of the first.  The Lancers struck for four more runs in the second on a Ruggiero RBI double, run-scoring singles by Osburn and Bolio and a Gikas squeeze bunt, and Salem State got on the board in the third when Deloury scored on a wild pitch.  The Vikings sliced their deficit in half in the fifth on Davis's three-run homer to right center (his second of the spring), but Worcester State closed out its scoring in the eighth on Osburn's sacrifice fly to take a five-run advantage into the final two innings.  Beliveau's RBI double in the eighth enabled Salem State to creep back to within four again, and a run-scoring single by Connors in the ninth brought the tying run to the plate, but the Vikings were unable to capitalize to close out the opener.

Ruggiero and Bolio each had three hits and combined for three RBI as a part of a 15-hit Worcester State attack in the opening win, while Ryan, Barry and Powers each added two hits.  Sophomore Zach Zona (Auburn, Mass.) went the distance on the mound for the Lancers, allowing five earned runs while striking out 12 and throwing 94 of his 140 pitches for strikes to improve to 4-3 on the season.  Deloury, Beliveau and senior Kevin Carens (Northborough, Mass.) each had two hits as part of an 11-hit effort in the opener for Salem State, as junior Cato Lacroix (Holliston, Mass.) suffered the setback on the mound for the Vikings.

Salem State and Worcester State met in the MASCAC championship round for a second straight season, as the Vikings turned the tables on the Lancers, who won a 5-3 decision in last year's title game.