PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Efficient pitching and timely hitting combined to send the Pittsfield Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Stars to the final day of the New England Regional tournament.

 

And those elements also combined to give Pittsfield the best possible chance to do some damage on championship day.

 

Matt Egan threw four innings, and Pittsfield scored five runs with two out in the bottom of the fourth en route to a 9-0 win over Westfield at Wahconah Park on Monday afternoon.

 

The win sends Pittsfield to the regional semi-finals on Tuesday, where it will play Maine State Champion Capital Area of Augusta at 1 p.m. A win in the semis means a trip to the New England Championship game at 4 p.m.

 

Egan got through four innings on just 44 pitches, and when Pittsfield took a nine-run lead in the bottom of the fourth, manager Elmar Uy had the luxury to pull his starter before he crossed a pitch count threshold that would have made Egan unavailable for tomorrow, when Pittsfield will need to play as many as two games.

 

“That fourth inning was big,” Uy said. “[Egan] was sitting at about 44 pitches, I think. So to be able to put up five more runs and have him available for tomorrow was huge. We have everyone but Quentin [Christopher] available the rest of the way.”

 

Egan gave the ball to Konnor Dugan, who allowed just a pair of walks in the fifth and sixth innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

 

When he departed with the bases loaded and two out, Jake Abel went to the mound to shut the door and preserve the shutout, Pittsfield’s first in four games at the regional.

 

It took Pittsfield (3-1) a while to get its offense going on Monday, but the second time through the lineup, it was able to do some damage.

 

With one out in the top of the third, No. 1 hitter Gavin O’Donnell ripped a single to left field to ignite a four-run rally.

 

Abel followed with a walk, and the pair executed a double steal ahead of Connor Devine’s sacrifice fly to right to put Pittsfield on the board at 1-0.

 

Pittsfield then scored three more runs with two out, setting the tone for the day.

 

Simon Mele dropped a single into short left to plate Abel. He stole second and third ahead of Christopher, who walked. With runners at the corners, a pitch to the backstop allowed Mele to score and left Christopher on third. And a balk brought Christopher home to make it 4-0.

 

Westfield starter Donovan Cummings got a ground ball out to end the inning and retired the first two hitters he faced to start the fourth.

 

Then the wheels came off for Westfield.

 

Derek Roy, Egan and O’Donnell worked three straight two-out walks, and Abel singled to left to score a pair of runs. Devine’s double to the wall in left brought in O’Donnell and Abel, and Christopher supplied Pittsfield’s third two-out hit of the inning to plate Devine and make it 9-0.

 

“Not the best start,” Uy said of his offense. “Kids were a little beat, I think, from [Sunday] night’s late game. But we had to put some runners in motion on the bases and got the momentum going a little bit.

 

“I’d prefer not to wait until two outs. It’s a little stressful, but otherwise, I’m happy with the hitting with the two outs.”

 

And he was happy with Egan, who pitched with runners on in all four of his innings but got the leadoff batter each time and did not allow a runner past first base.

 

“He started almost every batter with a strike,” Uy said. “Matty is a solid pitcher. He’s been solid for us for three years, really. He’s very dependable.”

 

Photos from this game here.