Game One Walkoff Highlights Baseball's Sweep over Framingham State

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Worcester State University baseball team secured a sweep of Framingham State University on Saturday afternoon in a non-league doubleheader at Lyons Diamond. Worcester State won game one 3-2 and game two 5-0.

With the sweep, Worcester State improves to 12-11 on the season. Framingham State drops to 10-17.

Game 1 - Worcester State 3, Framingham State 2

Worcester State turned the tables in the first game of the doubleheader, avenging Friday's 3-2 walkoff win for Framingham State with a 3-2 walkoff win of their own.

Framingham State opened the scoring in the top of the second inning on an RBI single. JC Espinal came around to score on the base hit from Matt Shaver.

The 1-0 score held up until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Jake Breton (Wilbraham, Mass.) delivered a clutch two-out, two-run single, plating Parker Bigelow (Leominster, Mass.) and Chris Wright (Jefferson, Mass.) to put Worcester State on top 2-1.

The Worcester State lead was short-lived, as Framingham State leveled it back up at 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning. On a sacrifice bunt attempt, Worcester State's pitcher attempted to put out the lead runner at third, but fired the ball into left field, allowing Bobby Higgins to scamper home and tie the score.

An inning and a half later, junior Thomas DiBattista (Hudson, Mass.) delivered the walkoff hit for the host Lancers. On a 1-0 pitch in the bottom of the seventh and runners on second and third, DiBattista found a hole on the left side of the Ram infield, scoring Brett Blackwell (Haverhill, Mass.) from third base. 

Relief pitcher Erik Zine, who came on in the bottom of the seventh to try to push the game to extras, was credited with the loss. The win went to Lancer reliever Joey Zawisza (Newington, Conn.), who threw one and two-thirds perfect innings out of the bullpen with one strikeout.

Game 2 - Worcester State 5, Framingham State 0

The Lancers came out of the gate firing on all cylinders to open game two, allowing them to cruise to the sweep.

Worcester State got on the board early, putting up a three-spot in the bottom of the first inning. Breton brought home the first run of the ballgame, scoring DiBattista from third base on a single up the middle. Three batters later, first-year Tom Halliwell (Leominster, Mass.) drove in two more on a base hit through the right side, plating Breton and Chris Ausiello (Tyngsboro, Mass.).

Worcester State added two more in the bottom of the second to run its lead to 5-0. DiBattista picked up his second RBI single of the doubleheader to score the inning's first run, and would eventually touch home on a nifty double steal with Breton.

Worcester State's bats quieted down after the second, but five runs proved to be more than enough run support for Lancer starter Ben Smith (Bourne, Mass.). The sophomore nearly went the distance to pick up his first win of the season, throwing six and a third shutout innings, allowing just five hits and striking out five. 

Nathan Labonte took the loss for Framingham State, allowing all five of Worcester State's runs in 1.2 innings pitched. Four Framingham relievers combined to shut down Worcester State the rest of the way, allowing just one hit combined over the final 4.1 innings, but the damage was already done.

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