WORCESTER – The Westfield State baseball team clinched the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular season title with an 8-1 win in game two, as the Owls split the MASCAC doubleheader with Fitchburg State on Saturday afternoon on the campus of Clark University.
The Owls will now be the #1 seed in the MASCAC Tournament, winning the regular season crown for the third-straight year.
In game one, the Falcons scored all the runs that they would need in the home half of the first inning. After freshman Brendan Ferrell (Leominster, Mass.) reached on a fielder’s choice, senior Noah Milliard (Leominster, Mass.) laced a double down the right field line scoring Ferrell. One batter later Milliard came home on an RBI single up the middle from junior Joshua Macomber (Berkley, Mass.).
Westfield cut the deficit in half with a run in the top of the third inning. Senior Anthony Crowley (Bellingham, Mass.) drew a one-out walk and moved to second when senior Aaron Clancy (Quincy, Mass.) singled to left field. Junior Jake Gibb (Stoughton, Mass.) stepped to the plate next doubling down the left field line to plate Crowley to make it a 2-1 game.
That would be all the offense in game one, as sophomore Ryan Towle (Westfield, Mass.) pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh inning to earn his first save of the season. Towle had two strikeouts with one walk and one hit in two innings of relief to secure the win for senior Tommy Parsons (Peabody, Mass.).
Senior John Gegetskas (Windsor, Conn.) suffered the loss for Owls as he allowed just two runs on four hits with six strikeouts and a pair of walks.
In game two, it was the Owls turn to strike in the first inning, scoring three runs on a pair of home runs. With two outs, Anthony Crowley drove a deep ball over the left field fence for the 1-0 lead. Two batters later with a runner on base, junior Jake Gibb jacked a home run over the left field to push the score to 3-0.
After scoring a single run in the fourth frame, Westfield doubled the lead in the fifth. Once again it was the Crowley and Gibb show, as Crowley delivered a 3-run home run to left field, while Gibb had a solo shot to increase the lead to 8-0.
The Falcons broke-up the shutout in the sixth inning. With one out sophomore Nicholas Cordeau (Melrose, Mass.) tripled to right center and scored on Noah Milliard’s sacrifice fly to center field.
Sophomore Shane Bogli (Vernon, Conn.) earned the victory for the Owls. Bogli went five innings allowing just three hits with five strikeouts for his sixth win of the season.
After the twin bill, the Owls improve to 24-12 overall (14-6 MASCAC), while Fitchburg posts a 22-14 overall record (12-8 MASCAC).
Both teams will finish the final game of the standard MASCAC three-game series on Monday afternoon at 1:30pm. The game will be played at Springfield College.? – Courtesy of Westfield State University Sports
