Westfield third baseman Jeremy Tanguay fires the ball to first base and a nice barehanded fielding play of a bunt. The Owls did not commit an error for the third straight game. (Photo by Nick Villante)
WESTFIELD – 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.
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.
