WORCESTER, Mass. – The Westfield State baseball team lost a doubleheader set to Worcester State, falling 3-2 in 12 innings in game one, then dropping the night cap 3-1 on a Friday afternoon from Lyons Diamond in Worcester, Mass. The Owls lost the season series overall despite defeating the Lancers on Thursday afternoon by a score of 9-6.
With the pair of losses, Westfield owns a 13-11 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference. Worcester State moves to 11-11 on the year and 5-3 in conference play.
In game one, the Owls squandered a dominant pitching performance by starter Nate Langmeier (East Granby, Conn.) who covered ten scoreless innings to keep Westfield alive. He allowed just five hits and struck out a career-high eleven batters without issuing a walk.
The Owls left ten runners on through the first eleven innings of the game as opposing starting pitcher Ben Smith (Bourne, Mass.) kept the Owls off the scoreboard as well, covering ten innings for the Lancers while giving up five hits and striking out eight.
Both teams went into their bullpens in the eleventh inning with Worcester reliever Jarret Morrill (Chelmsford, Mass.) tossing a scoreless frame. The Owls called upon sophomore Joe Espinola (Plymouth, Mass.) who hit a batter, and allowed an infield hit to put two runners on base with one out. He forced Grant Hartley (Auburn, Maine) to ground out and after an intentional walk to Mike Chaves Jr. (Hudson, Mass.), Espinola fanned Zach Landry (Mashpee, Mass.) to send the game into the 12th inning.
Sophomore Devin Slattery (Ware, Mass.) opened the inning with a one out single down the left field line. Senior Nick Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) drew a walk to put runners on first and second with one out. First-year standout Samuel Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) came up to the plate and wrapped an RBI base hit into centerfield to put the first run on the board for either side. After a double steal by Martin and Palmer, graduate student Max Silverman (Westford, Mass.) collected a run-scoring ground out to third base as the Lancers were unable to cut down a diving Martin at the plate, putting Westfield up 2-0 midway through the 12th.
Worcester State answered immediately as Sean Dutton (Leominster, Mass.) led off the inning with a solo home run to right to cut the deficit to one run. Andrew LeBlanc (Leominster, Mass.) followed with a double to right to put the tying run in scoring position. The rally continued as Chris Wright (Jefferson, Mass.) knocked in the tying run on a single to left field to score LeBlanc. With two outs and runners on second and third, Thomas DiBattista (Hudson, Mass.) delivered with a walk-off single to center, capping off a three-run, come-from-behind victory.
In game two, Worcester scored twice in the third on a two-run single up the middle by Alex Sorenti-Burns (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) and added an insurance run with a Chris Ausiello (Tyngsboro, Mass.) single to score Wright in the fourth.
Joey Zawisza (Newington, Conn.) improved to 3-1 with a complete game victory. Zawisza allowed just one run on seven hits while striking out a pair. The only blemish against him was a solo home run by Silverman, which gave the Owls a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.
Ausello was 2-2 with a run scored and an RBI. Zack Roberts (Northbridge, Mass.) went 1-2 at the plate and also scored on Sorenti-Burns' RBI single.
Ryan Robidoux (Suffield, Conn.) took the loss for the Owls, despite striking out nine over six full innings.