Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Baseball team (11-26, 9-12) would leave little time for the dust to settle from the MASCAC First Round game versus Framingham to switch gears and focus on grabbing an early lead in the double elimination bracket with their MASCAC Quarterfinal matchup against the second seeded Bridgewater State Bears (23-14, 14-1). The winner of the game will advance to the winners bracket at MASCAC semifinals tomorrow at Salem State at 3pm, while the loser would head into the second elimination of the MASCAC Quarterfinal at 11am. The last time these two faced off Bridgewater claimed the series 2-1, but Worcester was looking for just the one today. 

Final:

Bridgewater State: 16

Worcester State: 7

How it Happened:

Worcester would look to start quickly as first year Kevin Doyle (Bridgewater, MA) would hit a single right up the middle, banging off the pitcher's glove to get the action started on the day. Fellow first year Ryan Jewett (Natick, MA) would lay down a sacrifice bunt to move Doyle to a more favorable position. While junior Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA) would be taken down with a strikeout, Doyle would speed his way to third to be just a single away from an opening run. Senior Frankie Hernandez would do the honors with a single to right field for a Worcester 1-0 lead in the first. 

Starting on the mound in the second game of the day for Worcester was senior Danny DiMassimo (Pittsfield, MA) who, while allowing an opening single, would buckle down to grab a three strike out to get the action started versus Bridgewater. A grounder ruling past second with two outs though would provide just enough distance for the Bears to tie the game at one and close out the first inning scoring action. 

The one-one tie would remain through the second before the Bears would answer back with two runs in the bottom of the third off a double, single and double to take a 3-1 lead out of the third. Worcester would nearly tie up the game with the bases loaded in the fourth but a double play would end their hopes in the inning. The Bears would not let their chance slip away in the fourth though, adding another run to their tally to extend their lead to 4-1 before Worcester could close out the action.

The fifth inning would see a second run for the Lancers as Hernandez would pop out into foul territory for the out, but Doyle and Smith would each tag up to advance with Doyle managing to cross home and cut the Bears lead to two. Bridgewater was quick to respond in the bottom of the inning after getting two runners on base a blooping single over second would see the runners on second and third come home to push the Bears lead to three. A fielder's choice a few batters later would see run number six come across for the Bears while a follow up single would extend the lead to 7-2. An additional fielder's choice would grab out two but also send across run eight to push the Bridgewater lead to six in the action packed fifth inning.

Worcester State would not shy away from the battle, in the sixth after an early out would get two runners on off back to back singles that would put runners on second and third off a Bears error. A walk would again see the bases loaded for Worcester and after another out a walk on Jewett would send senior Tom Halliwell (Leominster, MA) in for run three. A fourth run would score off another walk as Smith would ride the count to send senior Colin Fitzgerald (Auburn, MA) across for run number four before the Bears could grab out number three.

Bridgewater would look to re-extend the lead but were unsuccessful in the bottom of the sixth and Worcester was quick to get back to work in closing the gap in this game. A sophomore Nathan Thurber (Framinfham, MA) walk and an junior Anthony Iamarone (Providence, RI) double would put early base runners on second and third. A Fitzgerald double would send the two runners home and cut the Bears lead to just two. Two follow up walks would load the bases for the third inning in a row for Worcester. Jewett would offer up a sac fly to send across run seven for Worcester and cut the Bridgewater lead to a single run before a final out for the top of the inning could be called. 

The scoring would not slow down at the bottom of the inning as a bases loaded sacrifice fly for Bridgewater would record run number nine on the game while a single with the next at bat would garner a run and an out on bases to take a 10-7 game into the eight. 

The scoring surge would take a rest in the top of the eighth for Worcester but Bridgewater would record six more runs in the bottom of the inning to push their lead to 16-7 at the top of the ninth before taking down the Worcester batters 1,2, 3 to claim the win and force Worcester into the elimination round match tomorrow at 11am at Salem State.

What's Next:

Worcester awaits news on their opponent at 11am tomorrow at Salem State in the elimination round of the MASCAC Quarterfinals.