Springfield, Mass. - May 7, 2014 - The Springfield College baseball team advanced to the semifinals of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) on Wednesday after a 5-2 win over visiting Framingham State in the quarterfinals on Berry-Allen Field.

The fourth seeded Pride (21-15) advances to the ECAC semifinals to take on top-seeded Roger Williams. Fifth-seeded Framingham State ends the season with a record of 20-19.

Eric Chase (Vernon, Conn.) earned the win on the mound, (4-2) allowing just one run over six innings of work. Alex Williams (East Hartford, Conn.) pitched two innings of hitless relief and Peter Baranski (Hamden, Conn.) closed it out in the ninth, despite allowing one run.

Matthew DiCato (Winthrop, Mass.) took the loss for the Rams (2-4), allowing five runs, but just two earned over six innings of work.

The Rams threatened early on in the contest, as Matt Roberge (Lowell, Mass.) beat out a bunt single to lead off the second inning. Anthony Iafolla (Medfield, Mass.) singled to right field to put runners on first and second and Ivan Colon (Waltham, Mass.) fouled out for the first out of the inning, but Roberge advanced to third on the catch. Chase got out of the jam on a double play ball to end the inning.

Manny Powers (Malden, Mass.) led off the third with a single to left and Jake Wardwell (Hudson, Mass.) put runners on first and second with a bunt single a few feet in front of the plate. After a fly ball to center field, the Pride picked up the second out of the inning on a ground ball to third base, but both of the Rams' runners advances on the play. Billy Derosier (Shrewsbury, Mass.) drove in the game's first run on a two-out single to right field, scoring Powers.

Springfield collected its first hit of the game with two outs in the third, as Billy Peterson (Wareham, Mass.) put a line drive into left field, but a fly ball ended the inning.

The Pride took a two-run advantage in the bottom of the fourth as Sean Smith (Broken Arrow, Okla) got things going for the Pride with a single to center field with one out in the inning. Brent Poulin (Atascadero, Calif.) singled to the same spot in next at-bat and Steve Starr (Lebanon, Conn.) got the Pride on the board with an RBI single through the right side of the infield. Smith gave the Pride a nice cushion in the bottom of the fifth with a base-clearing triple to deep center field, scoring Frank Calabrese (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Shane O'Leary (Kings Park, N.Y) for a 5-1 advantage.

Framingham tacked on a run in the bottom of the ninth to make it a 5-2 game, but the Pride closed it out to earn the win. Roberge singled to start the inning and Iafolla drove him in on a double to deep left field.