WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State starting pitchers' Luke Mathewson (Eastford, Conn.) and Ryan Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) combined to allow just one run across 12.1 innings to lead the Owls to a doubleheader sweep over Salem State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon from Central Campus Field in Salem, Mass.
The Owls offense came alive in the later innings of game one and used a strong start from Donahue to take down the Vikings 10-1 in game one, then Mathewson tossed a complete-game shutout in game two to complete the season sweep of Salem with a 3-0 win.
Westfield has now won four-straight games after the Saturday sweep, advancing their overall record to 14-15 while improving to 8-5 in the MASCAC. Salem falls to 7-22 on the year and 4-10 in conference play.
GAME 1
A scoreless tie in the fourth inning was broken by Ethan Day (Meriden, Conn.) who deposited an RBI single into right-center field for a 1-0 Owls lead. Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) and Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) each picked up an RBI in the fifth inning to extend the Owls lead to 3-0.
The Vikings picked up their lone run of the entire doubleheader set in the fifth inning on an infield single from Edward Field (Gloucester, Mass.) to cut the Westfield lead to 3-1.
The Owls offense would come alive late in the game, piling up seven runs in the final two innings. With two outs in the inning, after an Alex Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) walk extended the inning, John Nickerson (Chelmsford, Mass.) clubbed a two-run double to left center to plate two runs and drive the Owls lead up to four runs.
Additional two-out offense followed from Sean Clark (Dudley, Mass.) and Marshall with Clark belting an RBI triple into the right-center gap. Marshall punctuated the scoring with a run-scoring double to left to push the Westfield lead to 7-1.
In the seventh inning, Justin Neidel (Attleboro, Mass.) brought home another run on a double, then Martin tallied the Owls ninth and tenth runs of the contest with a two-run single to cap the Owls scoring in game one.
Donahue (W, 3-3) fired 5.1 innings of work, allowing one run while scattering five hits and fanning five. Joe Espinola (Plymouth, Mass.) cleaned up the final five outs of game one in scoreless fashion.
GAME 2
Mathewson kept the Vikings offense silent throughout game two, covering all seven innings while giving up just four hits. He struck out five and walked two.
The Owls offense chipped away for runs in second and fifth before adding an insurance run in the final frame. Nediel roped a double that allowed Trey Faulkner (Springfield, Mass.) to eventually come around to score for the game's first run.
Marshall registered his third and fourth RBI of the afternoon with two coming in game two. He laced a ground-rule double to left-center field to score Nolan Florence (Chicopee, Mass.) to double the lead in the fifth, then added a sac fly in the seventh.
Mathewson continued to deal on the mound with Conor Dolan (Rockland, Mass.) singling up the middle in the fifth to interrupt a span of 12 straight hitters retired from Mathewson. The senior right-hander forced a ground out on the next batter to complete five scoreless innings.
In the sixth inning, with runners on first and second for Salem with one out, Florence caught Brahiam Ortega (Lawrence, Mass.) attempting to steal third for the second out of the inning. Mathewson then forced a foul out to left to finish the inning. He struck out two hitters in the seventh with the last punchout finalizing the complete-game shutout.
Westfield State will remain in conference play next week as the Owls welcome MCLA to Hagan Field in Westfield, Mass. on Tuesday for a doubleheader set beginning at 2:00 P.M.