DiCecca Pitches Baseball to 7-1 Victory over Eastern Nazarene

Framingham, Mass. – Senior Chris DiCecca (Winchester, Mass.) tossed a complete game to lead the Framingham State University baseball team to a 7-1 victory over Eastern Nazarene College in non-conference action this afternoon at Bowditch Field.

With the win, the Rams improve to 11-17 on the season, while the loss drops the Lions to 10-19 on the year.

DiCecca and Eastern Nazarene starting pitcher Doug English (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) were both outstanding as the game was scoreless entering the seventh inning.  DiCecca went the distance for the Rams scattering six hits and overcoming four Framingham fielding miscues as he allowed just one unearned run in the game while striking out five. 

English was equally impressive despite being tagged with the loss as he went six plus innings allowing one earned run on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts.  English held the Rams hitless until a single in the fourth inning.

Eastern Nazarene threatened to break the scoreless deadlock with runners on first and second and one out in the top of the sixth inning.  Sophomore Ryan Garza (Elsa, Texas) laid down a bunt that FSU catcher Kevin Driscoll (Chelmsford, Mass.) fielded and dove back towards the plate to tag out the ENC runner trying to score from third. DiCecca was then able to induce a pop out to end the threat.

The Rams finally broke through in the bottom of the inning.  Freshman Jake Wardwell (Hudson, Mass.) led off the inning with a single and moved to third on senior Justin Forman's (Watertown, Mass.) single to left.  After Forman was picked off, junior Anthony Iafolla drove in Wardwell with a single for the game's first run.  The Rams loaded the bases as senior Will Crofton (Hopkinton, Mass.) and sophomore Mark Mainini followed Iafolla with singles.  Sophomore Matt Gerard (Milford, Mass.) then plated a pair with a single down the leftfield line.  Driscoll plated the Rams fourth run of the inning with an RBI base hit through the left side and junior Matt DiCato followed with a sacrifice fly scoring Gerard to give the Rams a 5-0 lead.

Eastern Nazarene answered with an unearned run in the top of the eighth as they took advantage of a pair of Framingham errors. 

Framingham State tacked on two more in the bottom of the eighth when Crofton laced a two RBI double to left to reach the final score.

Wardwell, Forman, Crofton and Mainini picked up two hits apiece for the Rams in the game, while Crofton drove in three and Gerard two.

The Rams return to action tomorrow night at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton against the University of Massachusetts Boston at 7 p.m., while the Lions host Western New England for a pair of games on Friday afternoon.