Baseball Secures MASCAC Regular Season Crown with 7-4 Win Over Westfield

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University baseball team secured the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular season title outright and the top seed in next week's MASCAC Tournament with a 7-4 victory over Westfield State University on Friday afternoon at Bud & Jim Hagan Field.

The Bears, who earned their fourth straight MASCAC regular season title and 20th in program history, improve to 25-11 on the season and 16-3 in conference play. The Owls fall to 25-10 overall and 12-7 in the MASCAC.

Senior DJ Prampin (Worcester, Mass.) belted a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to help lift the Bears to the victory.

The Owls jumped out to an early lead on a two-run triple by senior Robinson Baez (Dominican Republic) in the bottom of the second.

The Bears knotted the score at 2-2 in the top of the third on back-to-back RBI singles by senior Brendan Flaven (Taunton, Mass.) and junior Joshua Selander (Granby, Conn.).

Freshman Jamie Luna (Warwick, R.I.) doubled and scored on an RBI double off the bat of senior Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) in the top of the fourth to give the visitors a 3-2 lead.

The Owls tied the game at 3-3 in the home half of the fifth as senior Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) singled with two outs and scored all the way from first on an RBI double by senior Sam Palmer (Medfield, Mass.).

Senior Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) smacked a home run over the left field fence to give the Owls a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.

In the top of the eighth, BSU junior Ryan Flaherty (Duuxbury, Mass.) led off the frame with a base hit and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Prampin launched a a two-run shot to left center to put the Bears back on top, 5-4.

For Prampin, the home run marked his seventh of the season.

Bridgewater tacked on a pair of runs in the ninth to extend the lead to 7-4. The Bears loaded the bases after senior Kevin Lindsay (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and Flaven worked back-to-back walks and sophomore pinch hitter Benjamin Sepeck (Whitman, Mass.) reachen on an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt. After Lindsay was cut down at the plate attempting to score on a fly out to left, senior Philip Messina (Dunkirk, N.Y.) delivered a clutch two-out, two-run single through the right side.

Senior Cameron Breault (Buzzards Bay, Mass.), who pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless and hitless relief, tossed a 1-2-3 ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts to close out the game. Breault earned the win in relief as he improved to 3-1 on the season.

Junior Trey Yesu (Monson, Mass.) got the start on the mound for the Bears and allowed four runs on ten hits over 6 2/3 innings with no walks and six strikeouts.

Flahery and Luna paced a BSU 13-hit attack with three hits apiece. Luna also stole a base and scored two runs.

Lindsay singled in the top of the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.

Marshall went 3-for-4 to lead the Westfield offense while Palmer and senior Justin Neidel (Attleboro, Mass.) also recorded multiple hits for the Owls.

Senior Colton Vasseur (Colchester, Conn.) worked into the sixth inning for Westfield but did not factor in the decision. Vasseur gave up three runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings with a walk and five strikeouts. Senior Charlie Walsh (Medfield, Mass.) picked up the loss in relief after giving up the home run to Prampin in the eighth.

The two teams wrap up the three-game series as well as regular season play on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader at BSU's Alumni Park. Game one of the twinbill is slated to get underway at noon.