GREENFIELD — Much was deservedly made of Westfield Technical Academy’s two victories in the MIAA Division 5 state baseball tournament, as a No. 34 seed, to reach the Round of 16. But what about that stealthy No. 15 seed that suddenly finds itself with a home game in the state quarterfinals?

That’s the spot where Greenfield placed itself Tuesday afternoon, thanks to a 5-2 victory over Westfield Tech at Veterans Memorial Field. Four early runs gave the Wave enough cushion to withstand a pair of middle-inning rallies by the Tigers.

The Green Wave (12-10) now have to wait for the rest of its side of the bracket to catch up. Bourne, last year’s Division 5 state champion that’s a 23 seed this year with a 5-17 record, will host 26th-seeded Mount Greylock (9-13) on Wednesday in the Round of 16, with the winner advancing to play at Greenfield, at a date and time still to be determined.

Tuesday’s game ended strangely, with the host Wave up by three runs. With one out in the top of the seventh, Greenfield starter Michael Pierce hit Tigers’ Josh Elmer with a pitch. Arthur Fitzpatrick came on to relieve Pierce and got a ground ball up the middle off the bat of Antonio Simpson. Second baseman Chase Zraunig fielded the ball and flipped to the second-base bag where shortstop Caleb Thomas got the out, but Elmer and Thomas collided at the bag. The umpires immediately ruled interference on Elmer to also retire the batter-runner Simpson for a game-ending double play, even without an attempt to throw to first.

“I’ve seen interference, but not to end the game,” said Greenfield coach Tom Suchanek. “That other ball, that hit the base and popped up (in Greenfield’s fourth inning), I never saw somebody catch it and throw a guy out at the plate. I didn’t even know he caught it, I couldn’t tell.

“If you can score some runs early, a lot of times you can just put pressure on teams. Some respond, some don’t. Chase Zraunig came up with a big hit there, from an eighth-grader, no less.”

Zraunig drove in three runs for the Wave and Pierce allowed only three hits and one earned run over his 6⅓ innings of work, with four walks and eight strikeouts.

“We knew with Michael out there, we’d have a good shot. It was just a question of whether we could score enough runs to get it done, and we did,” said Suchanek.

Westfield Tech (16-6) wasn’t quite the lowest seed still alive in the state baseball tournament – that distinction belongs to Belchertown, seeded 37th in Division 3 – but the Tigers showed themselves undeterred, even against their early 4-0 deficit. After Pierce retired the first nine hitters, on a mere 30 pitches, Simpson began the Westfield Tech fourth with a sharp single to left, then stole second. With one out, Deven Werbiskis drew a walk before Pierce got the second out. Michael Sanchez then stood in and the runners attempted a double steal.

The throw from catcher Luca Siano squirted past third baseman Zraunig, rolling a short way down the left-field line, but far enough to allow Simpson to scramble home for the visitors’ first run. Pierce then got Sanchez on a called third strike to keep the game at 4-1.

In the Greenfield fourth, the Wave missed out on a prime opportunity due to another strange bounce of the ball. Deven Dubie singled to deep short leading off and swiped second, but Sanchez got the next two hitters on called third strikes. Pierce was intentionally walked after reaching a three-ball count and Caleb Thomas then sent a bouncer up the middle that struck the second-base bag and popped in the air nicely for shortstop Simpson.

Pierce was safe at second and Dubie rounded third to try for home, but Simpson’s throw to catcher Werbiskis beat him there in plenty of time for the final out.

Westfield Tech was back at it in the fifth inning with a leadoff walk to Andrew Galczynski, then a balk called on Pierce to bump the runner up to second. With two out, Elmer walked and Simpson singled to right to fill the bases. Josiah Pouliot walked to force in Galczynski, making it 4-2, then Werbiskis lashed a deep drive to left that the Wave’s John Marchefka tracked down and caught near the foul line.

A.J. Richter then led off the Tigers’ sixth with a walk and stole second before Pierce set down the next three, including the last two by strikeout, giving him eight punchouts on the day.

The Wave added some insurance in their half of the sixth, with a walk to leadoff man Dubie, a steal of second and a wild pitch, then a walk to Marchefka. Pierce then sent a fly ball to left field, easily deep enough for a sacrifice fly that plated Dubie with the fifth Greenfield run.

Greenfield left runners on base in all six at-bats, including two each in the second, third and fourth innings, and stranded nine overall.

In the Wave’s first inning, Dubie walked off Tech starter Sanchez, stole second and was wild-pitched to third. Zraunig then grounded out to the right side as Dubie crossed to give the Wave an instant 1-0 lead.

Zraunig provided the big bop in Greenfield’s three-run second, started with a walk to Siano, a sacrifice bunt by Nick Prasol, a walk to Fitzpatrick and Preston Lafleur’s infield grounder on which the Tigers couldn’t record an out. With Dubie hitting, Sanchez was called for a balk, bringing home Siano. Dubie walked to reload the bases and Zraunig sliced a two-run single, inside the right-field line, as Fitzpatrick and Lafleur scored to make it 4-0. That spelled the end of Sanchez’s day on the mound as Elmer came over from second base to relieve him, and Elmer wound up pitching the final 4⅔ innings for Westfield Tech.

“We had that discussion. In the states, I don’t care where teams are seeded,” said Suchanek. “Teams can get hot and you never know what can happen. They’re a good team, they didn’t fold after we got the 4-0 lead, they battled back. They’re on the same plane as us. If they got a couple of key hits, we could still be playing.”

No. 4 Pioneer 11, No. 13 Bromfield 0 — The Panthers led 3-0 after three innings but got going after that, scoring five in the fourth and three in the fifth to run away with a victory over Bromfield in the Div. 5 Round of 16 on Tuesday night in Northfield. 

Pioneer (18-5) advanced to host the winner of No. 12 Douglas and No. 28 Mount Everett, which square off on Wednesday, in the state quarterfinals.

“I keep telling the guys pitching will keep us in games,” Panthers coach Kevin Luippold said. “We’re confident in who we have on the mound one-through-four. We’ve only allowed three runs in our last five games. Going off that, it’s nice knowing we’ll be in the game. Our defense has been good, we’re hitting the ball and we’re executing well.” 

Jackson Glazier threw a gem for Pioneer, striking out nine and allowing just three hits in six innings work. Ethan Quinn tossed the final inning, striking out all three batters he faced. 

Ben Werner had a day at the plate, cracking two hits and driving in four runs. Hugh Cyhowski knocked two hits and drove in a run, Ethan Mauthe tallied a hit and an RBI while Alex McClelland hit safely in the win.