Bracket

After clinching the regular season title over the weekend, Bridgewater State also claimed the top seed in this week's MASCAC Baseball Tournament which begins tomorrow with the first round and quarterfinal contests.

Up first on Thursday are the first round and quarterfinal games which will be played at Bridgewater State and second seed Westfield State. #3 Mass. Maritime will face off with #6 Framingham State while #4 Worcester State and #5 Salem State will meet both at 11 am. The winner of Mass. Maritime/Framingham will play Westfield and the Worcester/Salem winner will get Bridgewater both at 3 pm. After the first round games, the tournament becomes double elimination. 

The tournament continues on Friday and Saturday with the semifinals and then Saturday afternoon is the championship game and the if necessary game on Sunday all hosted by the Bears. 

Bridgewater State earned the MASCAC regular season title and right to host after finishing 17-4 during league play. The Bears pitching was lights out this year with Matthew Seavey collecting six wins, a 1.62 ERA and 52 strikeouts over 55.2 innings. Teammate Matt Josselyn also finished with six wins, 2.11 ERA, 59 strikeouts and three shutouts over 55.1 innings pitched. He set a BSU school record for scoreless inning streak at 40 1/3 innings.

Westfield State with the second seed received the other hosting rights after finishing 15-6 during conference action. In his first season with the Owls, Samuel Palmer has been strong, leading the league in batting average (.412), slugging percentage (.647) and on-base percentage (.523). He closed out the regular season with six doubles, a triple, four home runs, 21 RBI and 27 runs scored. 

Taking home the third seed is Mass. Maritime. The Buccaneers had a record of 14-7 in MASCAC play. Dominant on the mound this season was Brodey Tinkham who led the league in wins with seven with the second-best ERA at 1.16, 48 strikeouts, five complete games, a shutout over 62 innings pitched. 

Worcester State landed in the fourth spot for the tournament with a 13-8 record during the league slate. Thomas DiBattista was a thief on the bases with 21 stolen bases, second-highest in the league. He batted at a .350 clip with a .463 on-base percentage, five doubles, a triple, 17 RBI, 23 runs scored and 14 walks.

Rounding out this year's tournament field is Salem State with the fifth seed and Framingham State the sixth seed. Zach Piroh was swinging for the fences this year with a conference-best nine home runs with a .348 batting average, .622 slugging percentage, eight doubles, a triple, 34 RBI and 24 runs scored. For the Rams, Ryan Boyle was a force at the plate, registering a .375 batting average and .617 slugging percentage with seven doubles, three triples, six home runs, 26 RBI, 26 runs scored and 11 walks.

During last season's tournament, second seed Salem State defeated top seed Fitchburg State 10-6, 10-5 to win the MASCAC title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.