Baseball Advances with 5-0 Shutout Victory over Westfield State

Westfield, Mass. – Sophomore Matt DiCato (Winthrop, Mass.) fired a four-hit shutout to lead third seed Framingham State University to a 5-0 victory over second seed Westfield State University in the first round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament on Thursday afternoon.

The Rams (26-14) advanced to the winner's bracket semifinals, where they will play No. 1 seed Bridgewater State on Saturday, May 5, at 1 p.m. Bridgewater bested Salem State, 1-0, in Thursday's other opening round game.

Westfield (20-17) will face fourth seed Salem State in the loser's bracket game scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. All of this weekend's games will be played at Bridgewater State.

DiCato, a first-team all-conference selection who lost to Westfield, 9-1, earlier this season, had a no-hitter thru the first six innings. The sophomore right hander only struck out two batters in the nine-inning game but he recorded 15 groundouts.

DiCato walked one batter while Westfield pitcher Roman Mondalto struggled with his control, walking seven as he gave up seven hits and fanned four in going the distance.

Framingham scored single runs in each of the first four innings, including an unearned run in the first frame on a two-out throwing error by Mondalto. The Owls committed two of their five errors in the first inning. Framingham finished with three errors as both teams struggled defensively in the subpar, soggy playing conditions.

With two runners on base and two outs in the first inning, Framingham junior Justin Forman (Watertown, Mass.) hit a comebacker to the mound. Mondalto fielded it cleanly and had plenty of time to record the out, but he airmailed the ball over the first baseman's head. Two Rams initially scored on the miscue but the second runner was ruled out for missing third base.

Framingham scored another unearned run in the second inning on an infield throwing error on a play at home. In the third inning, freshman Cam Coulliard (North Andover, Mass.) walked, advanced to second on a passed ball, moved to third on a groundout and scored on senior Pedro Acevedo's (Fall River, Mass.) RBI single.

The Rams made it 4-0 in the fourth frame on a leadoff single by sophomore Tony Iafolla (Medfield, Mass.) followed by three consecutive walks with two outs.  Junior Will Crofton (Hopkinton, Mass.) worked a walk to score the run.

Framingham scored its final run in the seventh when sophomore Matt Roberge (Lowell, Mass.) singled, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher, and scored on freshman Mark Mainini's (Hull, Mass.) RBI single.

Westfield mounted its biggest scoring threat in the seventh inning. Kevin Greene broke up the no-hit bid when he lined a leadoff single to center field. Josh Blair and Andrew Medeiros singled to load the bases with no outs.  Alex Cloutier then hit a grounder in the hole at shortstop and Medeiros was forced at second base. However, the run was disallowed as Medeiros was called for interference on his slide into second base, resulting in an automatic double play. So instead of runners at first and third and one out and a 5-1 score, the Owls had runners at second and third and two outs. Jeremy Tanguay struck out swinging to end the inning.

Acevedo and Roberge both rapped two singles for the Rams, while Green had two of Westfield's four hits. There were no extra base hits in the game.

Release courtesy of WSU Sports Information.