Baseball Sweeps Framingham to Start Conference Play

With the pitching staff on short rest, Westfield State jumped out to a quick start in MASCAC conference play, posting a pair of wins over Framingham State at Hagan Field on Thursday afternoon.

Westfield won the opener 13-2, and followed with a 5-2 come from behind win in the nightcap.

The games were pushed up a day from Friday to take advantage of spectacular, sunny, 73-degree weather with rain in the forecast for Friday.

In the opener, Framingham State stater Josh Jezouit held the Owls without a hit until there were two-out in the fourth inning.  The Owls found some two-out lightning, as Sean Moorhouse reached with a single, Ethan Day followed with a single in the hole to short, and Nolan Florence doubled to deep centerfield to plate two runs.

Kyle Darby slashed a double right down the right field line to score Florence, and Damien Manascalco delivered a well-placed two-strike single through the right side after fouling several pitches off to drive in Darby for a 4-1 Owls lead.

Zach Graveline lined a base hit through the middle to score Maniscalco and chased Jezouit from the game.

Westfield tacked on eight more runs in the fifth, with the big blow a 2-run triple from Day.

Nate Langmeier picked up his second win in five days, working four innings and allowing just one run.  Troy Saulnier tossed a pair of scoreless innings for the Owls and Joseph Fischer mopped up in the seventh.

Robert Higgins and Ryan Boyle each had a pair of hits for the Rams.

In game two, Framingham scored twice in the second with Simoneko and Herman leading off the inning with a pair of singles, with Simonenko coming around to score on a bases loaded walk and Herman was driven in by a bases-loaded walk to Bobby Higgins.

Westfield trailed 2-1 into the fifth inning before erupting for four runs to swing the game.   Casey Boudreau and Nick Martin rapped back to back doubles to tie the game at 2-2, and Brett Dooley followed with an RBI single through the left side to take a 3-2 lead that the Owls would not relinquish. Steve Saucier followed with a pinch-hit RBI single, and Damian Manascalco drew a bases loaded walk later in the inning for the 5-2 final margin.

Martin, Dooley and Nolan Florence each had a pair of hits for Westfield.  Florence had a big day at the plate with four hits in seven trips, two doubles and four runs batted in in the two games.

Chris Schoen earned the win, the first of his collegiate career, in relief for the Owls.  He came in and worked out of a bases-loaded jam he inherited in the bottom of the bottom of the fourt, then tossed a shutdown 1-2-3 sixth inning after the Owls grabbed the lead.  Trevor Edwards came in for a 1-2-3 seventh to earn his second save of the season.

For Framingham, Jack Foley took the loss in relief of Anthony Panza, who allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out five through 4.1 innings.  Simonenko finished with a pair of hits.

Westfield is now 4-0 overall and 2-0 MASCAC, while Framingham dips to 1-3, 0-2 in the conference.  The two teams will meet again on Saturday in a doubleheader scheduled for the NEBC complex in Northboro.   Those two games will not be counted in the teams' conference record.  With the schedules re-shuffled due to the pandemic, only the first two games against a conference foe count for the league standings and playoff seeding per the league's return to play plan.