WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State sophomore Nolan Florence (Chicopee, Mass.) sent the Owls home with a victory in walk-off fashion, crushing a two-run single to deep left-center field to split a doubleheader set with Western New England (4-2 in game one, 5-4 in game two) on Saturday afternoon from Bud and Jim Hagan Field. Westfield State (7-5) took two of three games from the Golden Bears in the weekend series after winning Friday afternoon at Western New England, 8-5.
Trailing 4-3 heading into the final inning, senior Damien Maniscalco (Branford, Conn.) ignited the seventh inning rally by lacing a base hit up the middle to open the frame. He then advanced to second on a balk, putting the tying run in scoring position. The Owls next batter Nick Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) grinded out an 11-pitch walk to put the winning run on base. Senior Ethan Day (Meriden, Conn.) then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt down the first-base line to advance the winning run to second base. After an intentional walk of Max Silverman (Westford, Mass.), Florence wasted no time at the plate, clobbering the first pitch of the at bat to the warning track in deep left-center field to score Maniscalco and Martin to secure the victory.
The Owls fell behind early in game two after first-year CJ Willis (Auburn, Mass.) unloaded a two-run shot to left field to put Western New England up 2-0 in the first inning. Westfield got on the board in the bottom half of the inning as Day wrapped an RBI double to drive in Martin to cut the deficit in half.
In the second inning, Maniscalco tied the game with an RBI single to left to bring in sophomore Trey Faulkner (Springfield, Mass.). Day added his second RBI of game two with a sacrifice fly to plate Spencer Cloutier (Westfield, Mass.) to give Westfield a temporary lead, 3-2.
The Owls ran into serious trouble in the top half of the fourth inning which saw Western New England load up the bases with nobody out. Reliever Luke Mathewson (Eastford, Conn.) forced a critical pop up behind home plate to keep the runners put. The next batter Ben Harrison (Newtown, Conn.) sent a fly ball to deep centerfield which was hauled in by Martin. One run would score followed by the go-ahead run on a poor exchange from the cut-off to give Western New England a 4-3 lead.
The Golden Bears would hold a one-run lead into the Owls last at bats, where Westfield would salvage the doubleheader split.
Owls sophomore pitcher Joe Espinola (Plymouth, Mass.) kept Westfield within striking distance, tossing three hitless innings to close out the game and pick up his first win of the year. Samuel Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) got the nod as the game two starter, registering three innings while allowing two runs on three hits. He struck out six and walked three.
Golden Bears closer Jared Kuryan (Madison, Conn.), who recorded his fourth save of the season in game one, took his first loss of the season with the blown save. Starter Robert Zawacki (Waterford, Conn.) was effective for WNE, pitching six innings and giving up three runs (two earned) on just three hits.
Western New England was victorious in game one behind six strong innings by starter Kevin Hummer (Shrewsbury, Mass.) who logged six innings and allowed two runs on five hits with six punch-outs. Hummer finished the game by working out of a bases loaded one out situation, striking out two of the final three batters of his outing to keep the Golden Bears up one run, 3-2, after six innings.
WNE scored two runs in the first inning capped off by a run-scoring single to right field by Harrison to score Willis. Silverman would cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame, driving in Martin on an RBI single to left field.
The Golden Bears would answer in the ensuing inning as sophomore Henry Schowerer (Stamford, Conn.) smacked a two-out RBI single back up the middle to score Paul Villecco (Cheshire, Conn.) and push the lead to 3-1.
Aaron Cole (Forestdale, Mass.) gave WNE an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a fielder's choice to go up 4-2 heading into the final half inning.
Kuryan closed game one by sitting the Owls down in order to secure the save.
Hummer picked up his second win of the season with Kuryan locking down his fourth save of the year. Owls starter Nate Langmeier (East Granby, Conn.) took the loss (L, 2-2) after allowing four runs on nine hits across six innings.
Westfield State returns to action on Wednesday as the Owls travel to Coast Guard for a 3:30 P.M. first pitch. Western New England (7-5) will host Nichols College on Tuesday at 3:30 P.M.