Owls Ascend Over Blue Jays, 8-3

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Senior Dominic Novio (Mansfield, Mass.) fired six innings of one-run baseball to propel Westfield State to an 8-3 victory over Saint Joseph (Conn.) in a non-conference road game on Wednesday afternoon from West Hartford, Conn.

The Owls, who recently earned receiving votes in the latest D3baseball.com top 25 poll, advanced to 11-3 overall while the Blue Jays dropped to 10-8 on the season.

Westfield struck early and often offensively, tallying five runs in the first two innings to pull out to a 5-1 lead. Chase Racine (Pittsfield, Mass.) got the scoring started with a two-run single in the first inning followed by three additional runs in the second inning.

The Owls capitalized on a pair of walks, setting up Nick Lenfest (Westfield, Mass.) who's first collegiate start began with a RBI single through the left side to plate Jonathan Toth (Granby, Mass.). Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) and Sam Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) followed with consecutive run-scoring singles with two outs to extend the lead to four runs.

After allowing a run in the first inning, Novio settled into the middle frames, allowing just one hit from the second to the fifth inning before working around traffic in his final inning of work in the sixth. After a leadoff single and a walk, Novio forced a double play, then got another groundout to end his outing. He gave up one run on five hits over six frames, walking four and fanning three.

Westfield tacked on to their four-run advantage in the fifth inning as the Owls loaded the bases with one out. John Bessette (Andover, Mass.) brought in a run on a walk, then Lenfest drove in his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to left centerfield to increase the Owls lead to 7-1.

In the top half of the seventh, Bessette launched a triple into right centerfield to bring across Toth for Westfield's eighth and final run of the contest.

Saint Joseph attempted to rally in the home half of the eighth as three consecutive batters reached base with the third being a two-run double from Ryan Quinn (Middletown, Conn.) who ended up driving in all three Blue Jays' runs. Owls reliever Dan Provost (Westfield, Mass.) ended the comeback effort with a flyout followed by two strikeouts to keep the Blue Jays down.

Novio earned his second win of the season while Cam Zampolin (Massapequa, N.Y.) pitched only 1.1 innings for Saint Joseph in the starting role, taking the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) on three walks and one hit.

Westfield State will be back in action on Friday for the MASCAC opener as the Owls begin a three-game series against Mass. Maritime beginning on Friday at Mass. Maritime with first pitch at 3:30 P.M.