DAN WHIGHAM
WESTFIELD – Luke Thompson and Zach Serna delivered a pair of RBI singles in the top of the eighth inning to rally the Coast Guard Academy past Westfield State University, 8-7, in a non-conference baseball game at Bud and Jim Hagan Field on Monday afternoon.
Coast Guard Improves to 11-13 with the win, while Westfield falls to 12-11.
The two big hits capped a see-saw afternoon for the two ball clubs.
Coast Guard pushed a run across in the first, with Westfield answering with two runs in the fourth inning as Nate Barnes and Dan Whigham led off the inning with back to back singles and eventually came around to score.
The Academy got four runs in the top of the fourth, aided by a catchers’ interference call and three wild pitches before Will Stephens roped an RBI triple to right field and eventually scored on yet another wild pitch to give Coast Guard a 5-2 lead.
The Owls put their own crooked number on the board in the bottom half of the inning, scoring five times to regain a 7-5 lead, with the big blow coming on a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double from Whigham.
Whigham finished 3-5 with three rbi. Owls’ leadoff hitter Dan McCormack rapped out three hits and Jared Ferrari had two. Freshman Scott Strachan took the loss in relief.
For Coast Guard, Dan Finn got the win in relief. Stephens took the hill in the ninth to earn the save. Serna finished with three hits, while Thompson had a pair of hits and drove in two runs. – Courtesy of Westfield State Sports
