Worcester, MA- After a thrilling day of Baseball yesterday that saw Worcester State (11-27, 9-12) defeat Framingham State 2-1 to advance to the double elimination quarterfinals before falling in a back and forth battle to Bridgewater State, 16-7. The Lancers would return to action, this time at Salem State, to take on the Westfield State Owls (26-15, 13-8) in a loser go home battle.

Final

Westfield State: 8

Worcester State: 6

How it Happened:

In what was primed to be an exciting battle, the Lancers refused to sit back as first year Kevin Doyle (Bridgewater, MA) would lead off and get on base after an opening walk for the Owls. A junior Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA) ground out would move Doyle to second as a senior Frankie Hernandez (Framingham, MA) single to center field would have Doyle speeding around the bases to grab an early 1-0 lead for Worcester. 

Junior Jarrett Morrill (Chelmsford, MA) would claim starting duties from the mound, grabbing three outs off four batters to hold onto the early lead and repeating the performance in the second. The third inning would put the Lancers back on the scoring doorstep as Doyle this time would single to get on base and a second runner would come on when fellow first year Ryan Jewett (Natick, MA) would drop a ball into right field that would place Doyle on third. But some solid defensive play would see the threat end there, with Worcester holding on to just the 1-0 lead. 

Westfield would look to rewrite Worcester's script in the third, getting their first batter on base and a passed ball would see the runner settle onto second. The bunt off the second batter would drop just out of reach of Morrill to put base runners at the corners. But a back pick at first would convert to an out as the runner would try to claim second, running right into the out. A second error on Worcester on the next batter though would see the Owl on third tie the game up 1-1. 

The fourth inning would again see Worcester put a runner on early as sophomore Gavin Wells (North Attleboro, MA) would beat out the throw from a bouncing single to third to claim first. Junior Anthony Iamarone would then send his shot to the exact same spot and this time the Owls third baseman would throw over the first baseman's head to not only allow Iamarone to grab first but then round the corner and land on second with Wells at third. Unlike the third, Worcester did not waste time getting the run in as a wild pitch would see Wells walk across home and reclaim the lead. 

In the back and forth battle, Westfield would respond in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot home run into left field to tie the game up and carry a 2-2 into the bottom of the fifth when a stand up double for Westfield would send across their third run of the day in some late inning pressure. The Owls would again threaten at the bottom of the sixth, but the Lancer defense after an early error, held strong to shut down any potential scoring from the Owls to hold the game at 3-2. 

The bottom of the seventh would see Worcester bring in sophomore Nolan Turner (Barnstable, MA) to close out the game, but the Owls picked that moment to find their offensive rhythm, sending across three runs to take a 6-2 lead into the eighth.

Worcester would aim to respond in the eighth with early runners on but grounder and a double play would leave two runners on base. The ninth inning would see Lancer put the push on grab the lead as Junior Andrew Medina (Boston, MA) would get things started with a double and Doyle single two batters later would send run number three across for the Lancers. A Jewett single, a walk in Smith would allow for a Hernandez sac fly to send across run four. A sophomore Nathan Thurber (Framingham, MA) double would send across a further run to cut the lead to three for the Westfield before an Iamarone single would notch run sixth but the game would end with a play at the plate as Worcester looked to grab run number seven.

Worcester wraps up their season at 11-28, having advanced to the MASCAC Quarterfinals.