WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State baseball dropped a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Framingham State University on Sunday afternoon, falling 8-1 in game one before the Rams rallied ahead for a 5-4 game two victory. 

 

The Owls lose two of three games against the Rams in the regular season series, dropping to 20-11 overall and 8-5 in the conference. Framingham moves half a game ahead of the Owls in the conference standings, improving to 8-4 in the league and 10-13 on the season. 

 

GAME 1

 

Westfield had an early scoring chance after Sam Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) and Justin Neidel (Attleboro, Mass.) singled to begin the game, putting Owls at the corners with nobody out. The Owls were caught stealing, then a pair of strikeouts from Rams starter Josh Sunderland (Mansfield, Mass.) kept the Owls from scoring. 

 

Framingham turned the defensive stand in the top half into eight runs in the first two innings of game one with JC Espinal (Peabody, Mass.) beginning the inning with a two-run single which led to a five-run frame. Three additional runs came across to score in the second with John Lynch (Quincy, Mass.) singling home a run, then scoring later in the frame. 

 

The Owls were unable to get in the run column until the final inning with Sean Clark (Dudley, Mass.) doubling home Tommy Mullin (Pittsfield, Mass.) for Westfield's lone run of the game.

 

Sunderland limited the Owls to just one unearned run across seven innings of work, allowing five hits while walking one and striking out eight. Ryan Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) took the loss for the Owls across four innings, giving up eight runs while fanning seven. 

 

GAME 2

 

The Owls found themselves trailing again in the second game of the day after Ryan Boyle (Arlington, Mass.) connected for a solo home run in the first inning. Both teams scored a run in the second inning with Westfield trailing 2-1 heading to the sixth inning. 

 

With two outs in the sixth, Devin Slattery (Ware, Mass.) singled to left, then Chase Racine (Pittsfield, Mass.) drew a walk, giving the Owls late life. Robison Guerrero Baez (Dominican Republic) followed by singling to right field, scoring Slattery to tie the game at two runs apiece. 

 

Trey Faulkner (Springfield, Mass.) then put the Owls ahead by clubbing a two-RBI double to right-centerfield to give Westfield their first lead of the day. 

 

However, the Rams would have one last push in the bottom half of the frame as Danny Robichaud (Dracut, Mass.) would knot the game back at four runs apiece with a two-run single. A two-out Owls error would prove costly, allowing the Rams to retake the lead, 5-4. 

 

The Owls went down in order in the seventh with Adam Martin (Brockton, Mass.) securing the series victory. He recorded the final four outs of the game without allowing a baserunner. 

 

Colton Vasseur (Colchester, Conn.) went five innings for the Owls, allowing four runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts. 

 

Westfield State has eight games remaining in the regular season, all against MASCAC opponents beginning on Tuesday as the Owls travel to MCLA for a doubleheader starting at 1:00 P.M.