Anthony Crowley bashed a home run and drove in four runs in the opener as Westfield State swept MCLA in a MASCAC doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon. (file photo)
NORTH ADAMS – The visiting Westfield State Owls banged out 16 hits in the opener as Anthony Crowley homered and drove in four runs leading the baseball team to a 16-2 victory over MCLA in the opener. In the nightcap, Nate Marshall tossed a shutout to give the Owls the sweep in a 6-0 win. With the victories, the Owls are now 17-17 and more importantly are 7-5 in the conference.
MCLA drops to 4-22 and are 0-12 in the league.
In the opener, the Owls scored a run in the first and then opened it up with four in the third and fourth innings, and another three in the fifth. The key blow in the third was a towering home run from Crowley to deep left. In the fourth, Aaron Clancy belted a run scoring double as did Stephen Brown. An RBI groundout capped the scoring in the fourth.
Another Brown RBI knock highlighted the fifth along with Tyler Adams’ two run double.
The run support was more than enough for Owl starter Nate Barnes. He went the distance and allowed just four hits and both runs, only one of which was earned. He struck out five Trailblazers.
Brown ended the day 4-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. Adams, Clancy, Christian Morales, Tyler Beach, and Crowley all ended with two safeties. Adams scored four runs for the Owls.
MCLA’s Brendan Kelly was tagged with the loss for the Trailblazers.
In the nightcap, the story was Marshall. The right hander wasn’t threatened as he allowed just four hits and struck out three in going the distance.
Dan Whigham singled in the first run of the game for the Owls while another came around on an outfield miscue. The key play came in the fourth when the Owls loaded the bases and Crowley came to the plate. Crowley lofted a high pop up in front of the mound that was misplayed allowing two unearned runs to score and made it 4-0 in favor of the Owls.
With Marshall keeping the MCLA offense at bay, the Owls would add a single run in the fifth on an Adams RBI single and in the seventh on a Tyler Beach single to round out the scoring.
The Owls outhit MCLA 8-4 in the nightcap as Beach had a pair of hits to lead the team. MCLA’s Nate Alibozek absorbed the loss going the first six innings off the mound. – Courtesy of Westfield State Sports
