WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State first baseman Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) laced a triple into the right-centerfield gap, then came around to score on a wild pitch to cap off a sweep of MCLA in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader from Hagan Field on Tuesday afternoon.
The Owls were forced to come from behind in both games, erasing a 5-0 deficit to defeat the Trailblazers 9-6 in the first game. In game two, Westfield forced extra innings after falling behind 4-0 to eventually walk off in the eighth by a final score of 8-7.
The Owls have now won six straight games, improving their overall record to 16-15 and 10-5 in conference play. MCLA drops to 8-23 on the season and 2-13 in MASCAC action.
GAME 1
The Trailblazers jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead after the opening half inning with all the runs coming across to score with two outs. Noel Medina (Bronx, N.Y.) began the scoring with an RBI single, then two batters later, Rob Correia (Waterbury, Conn.) walked in the Trailblazers second run of the contest. Joshua Bologh (Waterbury, Conn.) followed and cleared the bases with a three-run double over the head of Justin Neidel (Attleboro, Mass.) to open up a 5-0 MCLA lead.
The Owls offense rallied in the third inning, beginning with Sean Clark (Dudley, Mass.) and Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) who each collected run-scoring doubles to cut the Trailblazers lead to three runs. Two batters later, Ethan Day (Meriden, Conn.) delivered a two-out homer to left-centerfield to bring in Devin Slattery (Ware, Mass.) to trim the Trailblazers lead to a single run.
Medina stretched the MCLA lead back up to two in the ensuing half inning with his second RBI of the day, but the Owls answered with another crooked number in the fourth inning. Clark singled into center to make it a 6-5 game, then a dropped fly ball off the bat of Burnett allowed for the tying and go-ahead runs to score, putting Westfield ahead for the remainder of the contest.
Martin and Clark both tacked on additional insurance runs in the fifth inning, allowing the Owls to cruise to a game one victory.
Owls reliver Joe Fischer (Avon, Mass.) kept the Trailblazers bats quiet over the middle innings, picking up the win after giving up one run across 4.1 innings of work with three hits and two strikeouts. Joe Espinola, who played an impactful role in the back end of the bullpen in both games, recorded his third save of the season by firing the final four outs.
Aidan Brett (Seymour, Conn.) was saddled with the loss after allowing nine runs (seven earned) in four innings.
GAME 2
In similar fashion to game one, MCLA jumped out to another early lead, this time piling up four runs in the opening frame. After a passed ball scored Austin Rachiele (Pittsfield, Mass.), Medina drew a walk with the bases juiced to bring across another run, making it 2-0 Trailblazers.
Jayco Pena (Salem, Mass.) and Brady Hamel (Port St. Luce, Fla.) both registered RBIs on a pair of sac fly, giving MCLA a four-run lead.
Westfield fought back once again and cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning as Day connected on an RBI single, then a wild pitch allowed for Slattery to cross the plate.
The Owls tied the game in the second inning after Neidel tagged a two-run single, but the Trailblazers would retake the lead in the fourth on a Randy Adams (Fullerton, Calif.) single.
Lead changes continued throughout the middle innings with the Trailblazers still holding a one-run lead entering the seventh inning. With Westfield down to their final out, a wild pitch allowed for Day to score from third to tie the game and send the contest to extras.
The Owls held serve in the top half of the frame with Espinola entering the fray and picking up a huge strikeout with runners on first and second to escape the inning. He eventually went on to pick up the victory, notching a save and a win on the same day in two separate appearances.
Westfield's bullpen was strong once again in game two, with four pitchers allowing just three runs over the final 7.2 innings. James Sneyd (Abington, Mass.), who also pitched in both games of the doubleheader, took the loss after 1.1 innings of relief, giving up the game-winning run.
Westfield State will stay in MASCAC play for their next game as the Owls travel to Framingham State on Friday at 3:00 P.M. MCLA will travel to Fitchburg State on Friday for conference action at 3:00 P.M.