WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior starter Ryan Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) struck out a career high 11 Springfield batters as the Owls defeated the Pride 5-1 on Tuesday afternoon from Springfield, Mass.
The Owls improve to 3-6 on the year while Springfield drops to 4-6-1 overall.
Westfield opened the scoring in the opening frame of the game with Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) connecting on a two-out RBI double to center to plate Robison Guerrero Baez (Dominican Republic) to give the Owls a 1-0 advantage.
Donahue was sharp from the start of his outing, working around leadoff walks in the first and second inning to set the Owls up for a strong offensive outburst in the third.
A three-run third inning distanced Westfield, beginning with Justin Neidel (Attleboro, Mass.) who launched a solo home run to right to double the Owls lead. Alex Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) followed with a single to left, then Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) clubbed his fourth homer of the season to put Westfield up 4-0.
Donahue slammed the door on another scoring opportunity for the Pride in the third inning, inducing a double play to leave two men stranded for the Pride. After that, the junior right-hander settled into a groove on the mound, striking out the side in the fourth inning which jumpstarted a span of eight straight Pride hitters retired.
The Owls tacked on another run in the sixth off the bat of Trey Faulkner (Springfield, Mass.) who came up with another two-out RBI for Westfield with a single to center to score Marshall.
With two out in the bottom sixth inning, Springfield got a pair of singles from Cadin Maynard (Waterford, Conn.) and Ryan Sorgi (Braintree, Mass.). However, Donahue finished his outing with his career-best 11th strikeout to end the frame and keep the Owls ahead by five runs.
Donahue allowed just two hits across the six scoreless frames, and it was the second time in his career that he struck out double digit batters.
Westfield limited what had the potential of a big inning for Springfield in the eighth inning. A leadoff single from Max Giacco (Meriden, Conn.) then back-to-back hit by pitches loaded up the bases with nobody out. Maynard recorded an RBI on a fielder's choice to trim the Owls lead to four runs.
Westfield reliever Joe Fischer (Avon, Conn.) forced another fielder's choice for the second out of the frame, then a ground out to third ended the inning with the Pride managing to score just a single run.
Joe Espinola (Plymouth, Mass.) tossed another scoreless ninth inning, propelling Westfield to victory. As a pitching staff, the Owls allowed just three hits while fanning 14 batters.
Six different Owls registered a hit with Martin tallying his third straight multi-hit game out of the leadoff spot. Marshall stands alone atop the MASCAC ranks after belting his fourth home run of the season while his ten RBI are first on the team.
Westfield State will stay on the road for their next game as the Owls travel to #2/#7 ranked and defending Division III champion Eastern Connecticut State University tomorrow at 5:00 P.M.