Class C baseball: Green Wave wash away Tigers, punch ticket to second straight WMass championship

GREENFIELD — For the second straight year, Greenfield will play for a PVIAC Western Mass. Class C baseball championship, on the strength of its 6-1 semifinal victory over Westfield Tech Thursday at Veterans Memorial Field.

Luca Siano got the Green Wave started with a two-run double in the third inning, and later scored himself on a wild pitch, putting the second-seeded hosts on the front foot right to the end. Bodie Burke and Conner Bergeron combined on a three-hitter with 13 strikeouts; Burke registered 11 of those over his six innings of work.

Greenfield (14-5) advanced to face fifth-seeded Lenox in the Western Mass. final Saturday at 11 a.m. at Mackenzie Stadium in Holyoke. The Millionaires (12-6) advanced with a 5-3 upset win over No. 1 seed Drury in Wednesday’s semifinal.

Last year, the Green Wave reached the final before bowing to Drury, 2-1.

“A good job by our pitching staff, and we hit the ball when we had to,” said Wave coach Tom Suchanek. “We were going up there swinging at the first pitch, and getting in the hole. It usually takes one time around the lineup to figure pitchers out. We played a pretty clean game.”

Westfield Tech put runners on base in each of its seven at-bats, but could only break through in the seventh inning against Bergeron. Cam Witczak’s two-out double to left scored Josh McDonald, who had walked. Bergeron then induced a sharp one-hopper from Josh Elmer to first baseman Urijah Jenness, who made the play unassisted to end the game.

Earlier, the Green Wave stranded two runners in the first inning and left the bases loaded in the second, but finally hit their stride against Elmer in the third. Chase Zraunig led off by reaching on an error and seemed to tweak his right knee on an awkward slide into first, but he stayed in the game. Bergeron then walked and Siano whipped a double into the left-field corner, scoring Zraunig and Bergeron who almost ran up Zraunig’s back while crossing the plate.

Siano took third on the throw home and after Elmer retired the next two batters, he let loose a wild pitch that brought in Siano for a 3-0 Wave lead.

Greenfield was right back at it in the home fourth with a one-out single by Burke followed by two stolen bases, then a two-out walk to Zraunig. Pinch runner Casey Burke swiped second and Bergeron punched a base hit to left-center to score Bodie Burke, while Casey Burke went to third. Elmer then walked Siano but ball four went to the backstop, allowing Casey Burke to cross to make it 5-0.

The Tigers (16-4) missed out on their best chance in the fifth after a leadoff single by Andrew Galczynski and a walk to Colton Morawiec. Bodie Burke set down the next two hitters on popups — the second a fine sprawling catch by Zraunig in third-base foul ground — before Witczak walked to load the bases, and Burke was able to finish out with a strikeout.

In the home sixth, Arthur Fitzpatrick, Malik Moore and Sam Bucala each had singles to load the bases. Bodie Burke lined out to first baseman Ben Harrington, who then threw down to second in an attempt to double off Moore. That throw was too late, but with presence of mind, lead runner Fitzpatrick broke from third and scored ahead of the return throw.

Bodie Burke, Siano, and Fitzpatrick each came up with a pair of hits to lead the Wave’s 10-hit attack.

Greenfield now goes after its first Western Mass. baseball title since 2013, when the Green Wave beat Mount Greylock to win the old Division 2 sectional championship.