Late Inning Rally Leads Baseball to ECAC Championship Game

Newport, R.I.- The top-seeded Framingham State University Rams exploded for 4 runs in the bottom half of the 8^th inning to lead them to a 4-1 victory over Western New England in the semi-final round of the 2015 ECAC Div. III New England Championship. The Rams advance to play host school and #2 seeded Salve Regina at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.

WNE starter Tom Mahoney (Granville, Mass.) held the Rams hitless through the first 7 innings but the Rams bats came alive in the 8^th. FSU collected their first hit when R.J. Gray (Lowell, Mass.) doubled to start the 8^th inning. After a popup John Gill (Hudson, Mass.) drew a walk and Kevin Driscoll (Chelmsford, Mass.) reached on an error to setup Ryan Connelly (West Roxbury, Mass.) to drive a 2 run double into the left field corner. The next Rams hitter Mark Mainini (Hull, Mass.) drove a ball deep to right field which was initially ruled a homerun but eventually overturned and ruled a ground-rule double to give the Rams a 4-1 lead.

Framingham State starter Zack Kirby (Rochester Mass.) threw a complete game 4 hitter allowing one run and striking out 7 to pick up his 7^th win of the season

Western New England got on the board in the 6^th when Chris Casey (Milford, Mass.) drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.

Bears catcher Matt Calzone (Middlebury, Conn.) recorded the first hit for WNE but was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a high chopper to third.

The Rams got their first base runner of the day when Ryan Connelly drew a one-out walk in the bottom half of the 6^th.

The Bears threatened to add-on in the seventh when Daniel Morin (Salem, N.H.) doubled after a dropped foul fly. Morin was then caught off second after a fielder's choice comebacker to Kirby. Calzone then singled and advanced to second to put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd but Kirby forced a fly out to end the threat.

Calzone finished 2-for-3 for WNE was the only multi-hit performance for either team.

Mahoney took the loss going 8 innings giving up 3 hits, 4 runs (3 earned) and striking out 7.