WORCESTER, Mass -- The Buccaneers played their final two games of the 2025 regular season on Friday afternoon against Worcester State. With playoff implications on the line, and the Buccaneers needing to win both games to keep their hopes of hosting a playoff game next week, the Bucs did just that, winning game one, 9-3, and game two, 7-3.

Game One

The Basics

Final: Buccaneers 9, Lancers 3

Records: Maritime 21-17 (12-8)

               Worcester 23-12 (12-8)

On the Mound

Maritime: Hunter Dean (W, 8-1): 7 IP | 8 H | 3 R | 3 ER | 2 BB | 13 K

Worcester: Gavin Price (L, 3-6): 5.2 IP | 10 H | 6 R | 4 ER | 3 BB | 4 K

Inside The Numbers

Maritime

• Brett Velzis and Colsen Loughren had three hits in the win. AJ Pietrafesa and Jake Houston had two hits, and Aaron Cole, Damon White, Michael Estrada, Michael Loguidice, and Aidan Weir had one.
• Velzis drove in three runs in the game. Loughren knocked in two, and White, Pietrafesa, and Estrada had one RBI.
• Cole and Pietrafesa scored twice. White, Velzis, Loughren, Estrada, and Weir scored once.
• Velzis, Loughren, and Estrada all hit home runs in the victory.

Worcester

• Tyler Smith, Tyler Normandie, and Jack Savio had two hits in the loss. Nathan Thurber and Anthony Iamarone had one hit.
• Normandie and Iamarone drove in a run apiece.
• Thurber, Smith, and Savio scored the three Lancer runs.
• Thurber and Iamarone each had a double.
• Smith stole a base for Worcester.

How It Happened

Dean and Price battled for the first three innings, neither allowing the opposing team to score. In the bottom of the fourth, Worcester grabbed a 1-0 lead when Normandie singled up the middle to bring in Thurber. 

Maritime answered in the top of the fifth with three runs of their own. Pietrafesa reached on an error, driving in White in the process, and Cole scored on a subsequent error on the play to give Maritime a 2-1 lead. Later in the inning, Loughren singled home Pietrafesa to extend the Buccaneers lead to two runs, 3-1.

In the top of the sixth inning, Maritime added some insurance on back-to-back-to-back home runs from Velzis, Loughren, and Estrada, making the score 7-1. Worcester got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the frame, the first on a wild pitch, the second on an Iamarone double that scored Savio. Worcester pulled back within four, 7-3.

In the top of the seventh, White hit a sacrifice fly to score Weir, and Velzis singled to left, bringing in Cole. Maritime led, 9-3, heading to the bottom of the seventh. In the Worcester half of the seventh, Dean went on to strike out the side, winning the game for the Bucs, 9-3, and evening the series at a game apiece.

Game Two

The Basics

Final: Buccaneers 7, Lancers 3

Records: Maritime 22-17 (13-8)

               Worcester 23-13 (12-9)

On the Mound

Maritime: Sam Huffman (W, 7-1): 7 IP | 6 H | 3 R | 3 ER | 0 BB | 2 K

Worcester: Danny DiMassimo (L, 3-1): 6 IP | 6 H | 3 R | 3 ER | 4 BB | 5 K

Inside The Numbers

Maritime

• Aaron Cole, Damon White, AJ Pietrafesa, Brett Velzis, Colsen Loughren, Michael Estrada, Jake Houston, and Aidan Weir all had one hit in the win. 
• Loughren drove in four runs in the game on his first-career grand slam. Velzis knocked in two runs, and Pietrafesa added an RBI.
• White scored twice in the game, and Cole, Pietrafesa, Velzis, Loughren, and Weir scored once.
• Velzis had a double to go along with Loughren's home run as the two extra-base hits for the Bucs in the game.
• Estrada notched a stolen base in the game.

Worcester

• Anthony Iamarone and Ryan Jewett had two hits in the loss. Jack Savio and Christopher Mondesir had one.
• Riggs Catlin, Mondesir, and Jewett drove in the three Lancer runs.
• Iamarone scored twice, and Mondesir scored once.
• Mondesir had a home run, and Iamarone had two doubles in the game.

How It Happened

Maritime struck first in game two with two runs in the top of the first inning. Cole and White came in to score on a Velzis double, and the Bucs led 2-0 after one.

In the third inning, Catlin hit a sacrifice fly to pull within a run, 2-1, after three.

Neither team scored again until the seventh inning when the floodgates opened. The Bucs scored five in the top of the inning, the first on a Pietrafesa single to left, scoring Weir. The other four runs came on Loughren's first-career grand slam, bringing in himself, Velzis, Pietrafesa, and White. Down 7-1, Worcester had some work to do in the bottom of the seventh. They started a comeback with a Mondesir home run and a Jewett RBI single on the infield to grab two runs back, but that would all they could get as the Lancers dropped game two, 7-3, and the series, two games to one.

What's Next

The Buccaneers will be scoreboard watching over the weekend to see what happens in the Westfield Bridgewater series. The outcome of that Saturday doubleheader will determine the Buccaneers seeding in the MASCAC playoffs next week, and if they get to host on the first day of the tournament.