Baseball Bracket

After winning the MASCAC regular season title, the Westfield State Owls have earned the top spot in the MASCAC Tournament which will begin on Thursday, May 4 with the first round games.

Starting off the tournament is the first round which has third seed Fitchburg State hosting sixth seed Framingham State at 3 pm then fourth seed Worcester State entertaining fifth seed MCLA at 3:30. Top seed Westfield State will host the winner of Worcester State/MCLA at 3 while second seed Salem State will face off with the winner of Fitchburg State/Framingham State at 3:30.

The games will continue on Saturday at Westfield State beginning at 9:30 am with the semifinals and then the championship on Sunday with the winner earning the MASCAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. 

Taking the top seed and first round bye is Westfield State with a 12-2 record in league play. Leading the conference in RBI (39) and home runs (6) is Anthony Crowley who also finished the regular season with a .408 batting average, .504 on-base percentage, .776 slugging percentage and six triples that are all in the top two of the conference. On the mound, Matt Nunes led the conference in ERA (1.62), complete games (four) and wins (six). 

Earning the other first round bye is Salem State who finished with a 10-4 mark in conference action. Joe Kasper led the way for the Vikings with a .371 batting average, .468 on-base percentage while tallying 15 triples, 24 RBI and 33 runs scored. Will Twiss was fifth in the conference in ERA at 3.22 while also striking out 16 and earning four wins.

Sitting in the third slot is Fitchburg State. The Falcons ended the MASCAC regular season with a 7-7 record in conference play. Sean Maki was solid for the team with 11 doubles, four home runs, 30 RBI, 10 stolen bases, .356 batting average and .585 slugging percentage, all in the top six of the league leaders.

Worcester State has the fourth seed after finishing 7-7 during the conference season. Adam Barry led the Lancers at the end of the regular season with a .361 batting average while also tallying 10 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 29 RBI and 19 runs scored.

Closing out the tournament field is MCLA and Framingham State with the fifth and sixth seed, respectively. The Trailblazers, making the tournament for the first time since 2009, had six wins in league play. Joe DiMassimo finished with a .296 batting average with two doubles, a home run, 11 runs scored and 19 RBI which led the team. The Rams, who also finished with six wins during MASCAC action, were led by Kevin Connelly on the mound. He concluded the season in the top five in several categories, including wins (5), complete games (4), strikeouts (50), ERA (1.70) and opponent batting average (.186).

At last season's MASCAC Tournament, Salem State, after two hard fought games, beat Massachusetts Maritime to win the conference title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.