Top seed Bridgewater State and third seed Mass. Maritime are moving on to the winner's bracket of the 2022 MASCAC Baseball Tournament after winning their respective contests on Thursday.

#1 Bridgewater State 3, #5 Salem State 0     Box Score

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Graduate righthander Matt Josselyn (Hanson, Mass.) tossed a complete game, two-hit shutout to lead top-seeded Bridgewater State to a 3-0 victory over #5 seed Salem State in the quarterfinal round of the 2022 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Baseball Tournament on Thursday afternoon at Alumni Park.

With the win, Bridgewater advances to the winner's bracket final on Friday afternoon as the Bears (28-13) will host #3 seed Massachusetts Maritime Academy at three o'clock. The Vikings (22-18) will take on second-seeded Westfield State in an elimination game on Friday morning (11:00 AM) at Bridgewater.

Josselyn (7-2) allowed just a pair of singles and a walk over nine innings while striking out six as he recorded his team-leading fifth complete game of the season and fourth shutout. Josselyn, who threw 101 pitches including 70 for strikes, retired the side in order in the first, second, third, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings. He set down the first 11 batters he faced before giving up a two-out single in the fourth.

Josselyn and Salem State junior righthander Brock Pare (Lowell, Mass.) were locked up in a pitcher's duel as the game was scoreless through 6 ½ innings of play.

The Bears had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the first but could not score. Bridgewater threatened again in the fifth as back-to-back singles by sophomore shortstop Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and freshman second baseman Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) followed by a ground out put runners on second and third with two outs. Sophomore left fielder Joe Frechette (Plymouth, Mass.) then smacked a hard line drive but right at the shortstop to end the inning.

Bridgewater finally got on the board with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore centerfielder Shane Foley (East Bridgewater, Mass.) reached on an error to lead off the frame, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on Lindsay's single to right. After Lindsay stole second, Emerson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sophomore right fielder Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) then smashed a two-run single off the fence in right with Emerson also scampering home on the play after some heads-up base running.

The three runs would be all Josselyn would need as he set down the side in order in the eighth and ninth to secure the shutout victory. With the shutout, Josselyn lowered his ERA to 1.82.

Emerson (2-3, R) and Lindsay (2-3, SB, R) paced the BSU offense with two hits piece while Wladkowski added a walk to his game-winning two-run single.

Pare (2-5) pitched well in the setback for the Vikings as he allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits over 6 1/3 innings with a walk and three strikeouts.

#3 Mass. Maritime 6, #2 Westfield State 5  10 Innings    Box Score

WESTFIELD, MA -- Coming off of their 7-0 win over #6 Framingham State on Thursday morning, the Buccaneers stuck around in Westfield to take on the #2 seeded Owls in the MASCAC Quarterfinals round. Coming into the game, the Bucs held a two games to one lead over the Owls in the season series between the two teams. With a date on Friday with top-seeded Bridgewater State on the line, the Buccaneers pulled off a 6-5, 10-inning victory over Westfield to advance to the Winners bracket of the conference semifinals.

The Basics

Final: Buccaneers 6, Owls 5

Records: Maritime (24-15)

               Westfield (25-15)

On The Mound

Maritime: Sam Huffman (W, 3-1): 2 IP | 3 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 1 BB | 1 K

                Brenden Baiardi (Sv, 7): 1 IP | 0 H | 0 R | 0 BB | 1 K

Westfield: Shane Bogli: 6 IP | 7 H | 5 R | 4 ER | 2 BB | 4 K

                 Matt Motyka (L, 1-2): 2 IP | 3 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 0 BB | 2 K

At The Plate

Maritime

• Frank Aten, Aidan Henderson, and A.J. Luciano each had two hits in the game. 
• Zach Sylvia, Brett Velzis, John Tropea, and AJ Pietrafesa each had one-hit games.
• Sylvia had the only extra base hit of the game, a triple. He also led the team in RBI with two.
• Aten, Velzis, Henderson and Luciano all had an RBI in the win.
• Aten scored twice, Sylvia, Tropea, Tucker Leslie, and Lucianoall had one RBI.
• Leslie drew two walks in the game, Aten drew a third.

Westfield

• Ethan Day led the Owls with two hits. Six other players recorded hits in the game.
• Damien Maniscalco had two RBI in the game. 
• Day scored twice for the Owls in the loss.
• Max Silverman and Nlan Florence each had a double. Sam Palmer hit a home run for Westfield.

How It Happened

In the top of the first, Maritime took a 1-0 lead on a Henderson single to left that brought in Aten to score. In the bottom of the inning, the Westfield bats were alive as they scored four runs in the inning. The first, and tying run, came on Palmer's solo home run to left field. Then, two singles drove in the other three runs, including a two-run single from Maniscalco.

Playing from behind, the Bucs were not discouraged as they tied the game up immediately in the top of the second inning. Aten singled to center field to score Leslie, Sylvia then tripled to score Aten and Velzis singled to center to score Sylvia. The teams were knotted at 4-4 after two.

With eight runs scored in the first two innings, the offense took a few innings off as the pitchers and defense took over from the third to the fifth. Then, in the sixth, the Buccaneers took their second lead of the game when Sylvia reached on a fielder's choice and Luciano came around to score to make it 5-4.

It took until the bottom of the eighth, but the Owls tied the game one again. This time on a Florence double to left that scored Day. With the Bucs unable to score in the top of the ninth and Westfield failing to walkoff in the ninth, despite having the bases loaded, the teams went to extra innings.

During the free baseball period, the Buccaneers scored in the top of the tenth on a Luciano single to center that scored Tropea to give Maritime their third lead of the game. In the bottom of the frame, on for his seventh save of the season Baiardi got the first two outs of the inning on a fly out and ground out. A runner then reached on a two-bag miscue by the Bucs. With the tying run in scoring position, Baiardi struck out the next batter looking to secure the 6-5 win for the Bucs in the MASCAC Quarterfinals.

What's Next

The Buccaneers travel to top-seeded Bridgewater State on Friday at 3pm for the conference semifinals.