WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior outfield Anthony Crowley (Bellingham, Mass.) finished 3-4 at the plate and cracked his 26th career home run to lead the Owls to a 9-3 win over regionally ranked Western New England at Bud and Jim Hagan Field.
The Owls (20-10) swept the season series with the Golden Bears after picking up a win in the season opener earlier this year. Western New England was ranked seventh in New England in the first NCAA regional advisory poll, released earlier this week.
Crowley launched his sixth home run of the year, a three-run shot to left on low pitch he hit off his shoe tops to break open a 1-0 game in the third inning and give the Owls a 4-1 lead.
Westfield tacked on two more with a Crowley RBI double in the seventh, and another pair of runs on freshman Ethan Day's (Lyman Hall/Meriden, Conn.) 2-run double in the eighth. Day, Nick Martin (Shrewsbury) (2-4, 3 runs scored), and Brett Dooley (Gunnery/Cohasset, Mass.) each added two hits for the Owls, and Sean Moorhouse (Westfield, Mass.) scored a pair of runs.
It was a solid team win for Westfield, who utilized 14 hitters and four pitchers in the win. Owls'freshman lefthander Alex Honey (Suffield, Conn.) started and went 5.2 innings while scattering nine hits and allowing two earned runs to pick up the win, and improved to 5-0 on the season. Patrick Jordan (Reading, Mass.), Trevor Edwards (Amherst) and Scott Strachan (Braintree) shut the door with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief between them.
WNE (20-11) starter Ryan Searles (Norwalk, Conn.) (1-1), the first of five Golden Bear pitchers, took the loss, working four innings, allowing just two hits but walking four and surrendered the shot to Crowley. Alex Loparco (Greenwich/Riverside, Conn.), Jake Balderston (Amherst/Hadley, Mass.) and Sebby Grignano (Maloney/Meriden, Conn.) each had a pair of hits for the Golden Bears.
Westfield is scheduled to back in action tomorrow, as the league-leading Owls will host Bridgewater State in the first game of a three-game conference set.