Lancers Finish as Finalist in MASCAC Championship Battle

Worcester, MA- With a win yesterday over the Westfield State Owls to sweep the season, the Lancers Baseball team (20-19,16-8) faced a rematch on the road to the championship game in a meeting with the Salem State Vikings. The Vikings claimed the win over Worcester in the Quarterfinals 20-10 to hand Worcester their first loss in post season play. The Lancers returned the favor with a decisive final to advance to the MASCAC Championship versus Bridgewater State, who were yet to have a loss in the tournament.

Final

Worcester State: 13

Salem State: 4

How it Happened:

A Junior Kevin Doyle (Bridgewater, MA) sacrifice fly would send junior Derek De La Cruz (Providence, RI) across at the top of the first to start the scoring action for Worcester. In the second junior Tad Giardina (Reading, MA) would add to the inning push as he singled to right center to score Senior Mason Bates (Shrewsbury, MA) and junior Alan Carpenter (Richmond, RI) for an early 3-0 lead. Senior Zachary Scotti (Warwick, RI) would make clean work at the bottom of the innings.

A fourth run would be tacked on in the third as an error in left field allowed senior Nathan Thurber (Framingham, MA) to rush home for the 4-0 lead. Thurber would be the action point in the fourth as he singled to left for De La Cruz to record run five. Junior Tyler Normandie (Lowell, MA) would work the count for a walk forcing home Riggs Catlin (Dedham, MA) before a wild pitch found Doyle crossing home on a wild pitch for the 7-0 Lancer lead into the bottom of the inning.

The fifth would add further support for the Lancers as Doyle singled to center for a two RBI shot with De La Cruz and junior Ryan Jewett (Natick, MA) crossing for the 9-0 lead. The bottom of the fifth would find Salem beginning to mount their attempt at comeback, recording four runs in the bottom of the inning. The sixth would stay silent for each team until the eighth when Normandie would go deep over the left field fence for a two shot homer to bring across Carpenter with him for an 11-4 lead. Jewett would add some further cushion with a single up the middle to help Bates across.

The final run of the action to seal the championship appearance came from a Normandie single that would send Doyle across for the 13-4 final.

Scott and Junior Tedy Cove (Worcester, MA) would combine for the game with Scotti recording three strikeouts and Cove would record two.

Final

Worcester State: 11

Bridgewater State: 12

How it Happened:

The Bridgewater Bears would record the first two runs of the game but top of third would find scoring success for Worcester as Thurber hit into a fielder's choice with De La Cruz recording the first run for Worcester. Carpenter would record an RBI as he singled through the right to bring Catlin home while starting pitcher and DH Normandie would jam a double to center for a two run RBI of Thurber and Doyle. Closing out the five run third was Bates with a ground out that would send Carpenter home.

The top of the fourth found an error allowing Jewett home after an opening double put him in scoring position. Doyle would then single up the middle for a De La Cruz score. A sacrifice fly from Thurber would send in Catlin while a further error would allow Doyle to cross for the 9-2 score. 

The top of the fifth would add an additional run for Worcester as a De La Cruz double would push first year Rusbert Martinez (Bani, DR) across for run 10. The bears would come away with one in the bottom of the inning for a 10-3 score into the sixth.

Worcester would not be content as Normandie would double to left at the top of the sixth to send Thurber across for run eleven. The Bears would respond in the bottom of the inning with two runs as they worked to dig back into the championship game. 

Neither team would find scoring success until the bottom of the ninth when the Bears would look for one last attempt. The first batter would be hit by the pitch and the second would go deep to left for a two run homer. A single, a walk, an error and another single would quickly find the score at 11-10 with no outs on the board. Some late errors and big hits were all that were needed for the Bears to pull off the seven run bottom of the ninth upset.

Normandie would go eight innings allowing just three earned runs and recording two strikeouts in the game.

Worcester ends the season as the MASCAC Finalists for the 2026 season.