WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Top-seeded Westfield State rolled to a big early lead, then held on late to defeat Salem State, 13-7, in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament at Bud and Jim Hagan Field.

Westfield improves to 22-15-1 with the win, and will play Framingham State in the winners' bracket game tomorrow at noon. Third-seed Salem falls to 21-18 and will play Mass Maritime Academy in an elimination game tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. All remaining games in the tournament are hosted at Westfield State's Hagan Field.

Third-seed Framingham State defeated #2 Mass Maritime in today's other game, 10-1.

For Westfield, ace John Gegetskas (W, 8-1) rolled through the first six innings allowing just one run. The Owls bats hung five runs on the board in the second inning, and five more in the third inning to lead 10-0.

In the second, Vikings starter Steven Leavitt (L, 4-4) ran into trouble, yielding 2 RBI doubles to both Colin Dunn and Alex Lafayette.

Westfield's big bats kept it rolling in the third, as three runs scored on Anthony Crowley's wind-blown pop fly single that fell in for a hit in shallow right center field with two out.

Salem finally got on the board in the fifth, as Brendan Greene's groundout scored R.J. Warnock from third to cut the lead to 11-1.

Westfield threatened to cut the game short by virtue of the tournament's 12-run mercy rule after seven innings, as the Owls grabbed a 13-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning on RBI singles by Crowley and Aaron Clancy, but Salem netted a pair of runs in the bottom half to extend the game.

Gegetskas finally ran out of gas in the eighth inning, leaving after allowing nine hits and four runs, while striking out three and walking three. He improves to 8-1 on the season, the best 1-loss season by an Owls pitcher.

Tyler Tongue and Scott Strachan worked the final inning and two-thirds, surrendering three more runs to the Vikings.

Crowley finished 3-5 with four RBI for the Owls, and now has 51 runs batted in for the season, the second-most in a single season in school history. Tyler Beach added three hits, two runs and two rbi. John Lippincott had a pair of hits, including a double, and scored three times, and Alex Lafayette finished 2-4 with two doubles and two RBI.

For Salem, Warnoc and Shawn Rebello each finished with three hits. Senior Ryan Kelleher provided a workmanlike effort out of the bullpen, working the final 5.1 innings, allowing eight hits and three runs while striking out three to save the Vikings bullpen for tomorrow.