Baseball Eliminated from MASCAC Tournament with 8-5 Loss at Fitchburg State

Fitchburg, Mass. – The sixth seed Framingham State University baseball team was eliminated from the 2016 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Baseball Championship this afternoon with an 8-5 loss to third seed Fitchburg State University.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 18-18 on the year and advance to face second seed Massachusetts Maritime tomorrow afternoon.  The Rams see their season come to a close at 10-30.

The Falcons grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, but the Rams came right back in the next half inning cutting the lead down to one on an RBI single from Kyle Lippert (Carlsbad, Calif.).

The Falcons took control of the game with four runs in the bottom of the sixth that included a two run triple from Andrew Currie.

The Rams capitalized on a Fitchburg State error to score an unearned run in the top of seventh on an RBI single by freshman Anthony Venuti (Braintree, Mass.).  They added a single run in the top of the eighth on an RBI single from senior RJ Gray (Lowell, Mass.), but the Falcons plated two in the bottom of the inning extending the lead to 8-3.

The Rams added two final runs in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by senior Ryan Connelly (Hyde Park, Mass.) and a groundout by classmate Jake Wardwell (Hudson, Mass.) to reach the final margin.

Venuti paced the Rams going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and an RBI, while Currie paced the Falcons going 2-for-5 with two RBI.

Tommy Parsons earned the win on the hill for the Falcons going seven innings and allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits with six walks and five strikeouts.

Junior Manny Powers (Malden, Mass.)  suffered the loss going four innings and surrendering two earned runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout, while senior Zack Kirby (Rochester, Mass.) threw four innings in relief.