Lancers Baseball Taken Down in Offensive Battle with Vikings

Worcester, MA- with the conclusion of the regular season the Worcester State Baseball team (23-13, 12-9) clinched the fourth seed in the MASCAC Tournament. Kicking off the action the Lancers faced Salem State (17-26, 12-9) in the First Round of the tournament, with the winner advancing to take on Bridgewater State in the double elimination quarterfinals. The Lancers claimed the regular season series 2-1 over Salem State to grab the tiebreaker for home field in today's meeting.

Final

Salem State: 13

Worcester State: 8

How it Happened:

Worcester State would get off to a slow start versus the Vikings allowing four runs and a pitching change early in the top of the first for a Vikings lead. The Lancers would not be kept down long though a first year Riggs Catlin (Dedham, MA) would hit a lead off walking triple after a bobble in the outfield. A follow up single by junior Nathan Thurber (Framingham, MA) would bring Catlin home. Senior Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA) would make it three straight hits with a double of his own to put two runners in scoring position. First year Jack Savior (Andover, MA) would ground out to second but Thurber would make it 4-2 in the action. First year, and newly selected MASCAC Rookie of the Year, Chris Mondedir (Roslindale, MA), would record an RBI with a deep ball to left for Smith to score in this early looking bat fest.

The second was a complete 180 from the first as junior Nolan Turner (Barnstable, MA) would make quick work of the Vikings, who would return the favor in the bottom of the inning to keep a 4-3 score into the third.

The third inning would find three additional runs at the top of the next inning and their defense would keep the Lancers from any responding runs. Worcester would be shut out of the scoring until the bottom of the fourth when senior Anthony Iamarone (Providence, RI) would go deep for a solo shot.

The bottom of the fifth would see Thurber nail a bouncer through the middle for sophomore Ryan Jewett (Natick, MA) to sprint across the plate to cut into the Salem lead with a 7-5 lead. Smith would then find his body making contact with the pitch for a trip to first which would find sophomore Tyler Normandie (Lowell, MA) would yank the ball to the warning track in left field to bring Thurber home for run six and force a pitching change for Salem. Savior would take the first pitch to left for a sac fly with just enough time for Smith to race home and tie the game up.

The top of the seventh would find a sacrifice fly for the Vikings to reclaim the 8-7 lead as each team looked to close out the action for a victory. An error on a simple pop up by Mondedir would tie the game up at 8 as Savior would come across on the error.

In this back and forth end to the game a misplayed ball would find Salem again take the one run lead at the top of the eighth. Another bobbled play later in the inning which brought in two runs and an 11-8 lead before the Vikings would tag on two more runs before Worcester would attempt to close the gap and keep their playoff hopes alive but the Vikings defense would be on point to close out the action, claiming the 13-8 victory.