Danny DiMatteo launched a solo home run to help power Westfield State’s first win of the season. (Courtesy of Westfield State University Sports)
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Freshman pitcher John Gegetskas earned his first collegiate win and senior outfielder Danny DiMatteo homered and scored a pair of runs to help Westfield State to its first baseball victory of the season as the Owls earned a doubleheader split with Curry College on Sunday afternoon.
Westfield claimed the second game by a 3-1 score, while Curry took the first by a 7-6 final.
Gegetskas (1-0) spun 5.1 innings of 1-hit baseball, yielding a single unearned run while walking three and fanning seven.
DiMatteo factored in both of the Owls scoring innings singling and scoring a run in the first inning, and launching a mammoth solo home run to lead off the third inning that left the park to dead center field over the 24-foot high batter’s eye wall.
Sophomore Tyler Tongue entered the game in relief in the sixth inning and tossed 1-2/3 scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts to earn his first save of the season.
Former Westfield High School All-Stars’ Colin Dunn and Nate Barnes joined DiMatteo as repeat hitters for the Owls. Curry starter Alex McLean (0-1) took the loss for the Colonels (2-1).
In the opener, the Owls jumped on top 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning on Barnes’ two run single that plated Dan McCormack and Dunn.
Curry tied the game with two runs in the top of the third, but Westfield responded with an RBI double from DiMatteo in the bottom half that plated McCormack to take a 3-2 lead. The Colonels grabbed a 4-3 lead with a two run double from William De La Cruz in the top of the fourth inning.
The Owls used a 3-run fifth inning to get back on top 6-4, with the big blow an infield single from freshman designated hitter Aaron Clancy, which plated Dunn from third, with DiMatteo catching the defense napping by racing all the way home from second on the play.
Curry however posted the final rally of the day, striking for three unearned runs of Owls closer Pete Liimatainen (0-1) in the top of the seventh, aided by three Owls errors.
Colonels’ starter Tom Fogarty (1-0) outlasted the Owls. Going six innings and allowing six runs (all earned) while striking out seven. Brandon Berkovitz worked a 1-2-3 seventh to earn the save.
McCormack and DiMatteo each rapped out a pair of hits for Westfield.
Westfield is back in action on Monday at 9 a.m. facing Wheaton (Mass.) College in Auburndale, Fla. – Courtesy of Westfield State University Sports
