MILLINGTON, Tenn. – Westfield State junior pitcher Ryan Lapierre (Pittsfield, Mass.) struck out eight hitters across 7.2 innings as the Owls picked up their first win of the season with a 3-1 victory over North Park on the opening game of their spring break trip from Millington, Tenn. on Friday afternoon.
The Owls move to 1-1 on the season while North Park slips to 0-9.
Westfield was forced to come from behind as the Vikings were first on the scoreboard. The Owls nearly escaped the third inning without giving up a run after Lapierre and Nolan Florence (Chicopee, Mass.) cut down Alex DiVito (Bloomfield, Mass.) at the plate after trying to score on a wild pitch. With two outs in the frame, Justin Swanson (Johnson Creek, Wisc.) delivered a line-drive single to left to plate Ethan Raspolich (Plainfield, Ill.) and gave North Park a 1-0 advantage.
After the third inning, Lapierre settled into a rhythm on the mound, striking out the side in the fourth, then punching out two of three hitters in the fifth. A bunt single in the top half of the seventh inning by Joseph Perona (Chicago, Ill.) broke up a span of ten in a row retired by Lapierre.
The Owls finally broke through in the sixth inning after stranding six runners on base through the third to fifth innings of play. Ethan Day (Meriden, Conn.) started the scoring rally with a single to right, with Florence following two batters later with a single to center to give the Owls men on first and second with one out.
With Vikings right-hander Tyler Banks (Littleton, Colo.) an out away from escaping another jam, Trey Faulkner (Springfield, Mass.) kept the inning alive by grounding a ball back up the middle where the Vikings shortstop took a few steps to his left, then fired an off-target throw that allowed for Day to tie the game. Opportunistic baserunning from Florence allowed for the go-ahead run to score on the same error, giving Westfield a 2-1 lead after six innings.
Strong defense on the part of Florence kept the Vikings off the scoreboard in the seventh as he threw out two North Park runners attempting to swipe second to end the inning.
Day provided an insurance run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to score Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.), boosting the Owls lead to 3-1.
Lapierre returned for the eighth inning of play where he struck out the first two hitters of the frame, eventually turning the game over to reliever Joe Espinola (Plymouth, Mass.) who recorded a four-out save to close out the win.
Banks (L, 0-3) kept the Vikings in the game after tossing six strong innings, allowing two unearned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Lapierre (W, 1-0) was able to prevail in the pitcher's duel, surrendering just one run while scattering six hits throughout the start.
Burnett, Florence, and Justin Neidel (Attleboro, Mass.) all tallied multi-hit games.
Westfield State will play seven-straight games on the trip, with the second game coming against #2/#8 ranked LaGrange (Georgia) tomorrow at 3:00 P.M. EST, 2:00 P.M. central time.