Owls No-Hit Johnson & Wales in Seven-Inning, Five Hour Mercy

DAVENPORT, Fla. – After five hours and forty minutes, including four separate weather delays, Westfield State tossed a combined no-hitter while also slugging their way to a 17-1 thrashing over Johnson & Wales on Wednesday afternoon from the Northeast Regional Park baseball complex in Davenport, Florida. The victory comes in the Owls first of five games in Florida, and moves Westfield to 3-0 on the season. Johnson & Wales slips to 0-3.

Ryan Robidoux (Suffield, Conn.), Sean Casey (Amston, Mass.), and Billy Casey (Dedham, Mass.) combined for the no-hitter with Robidoux getting the starting nod. He fired three perfect innings while fanning five batters before exiting the game due to an hour and twenty-minute rain delay. Sean and Billy Casey secured the remaining four innings, dodging three additional stoppages. Sean Casey (1-0) picked up the win.

Offensively, the Owls opened the game with a four-run first inning. First-year Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) got the scoring started with a double into the left-center field gap to plate senior Nick Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.). Max Silverman (Westford, Mass.) knocked in the second run on a sacrifice fly, and then Samuel Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) cranked a 1-1 pitch into right-center field to drive in two more runs.

After the first rain delay of over an hour, the Owls put the game out of reach starting with an Ethan Day (Meridan, Conn.) two-run home run to push the lead to 6-0. Senior Zack Graveline (Prospect, Conn.) added the knock-out blow three batters later, launching a three-run shot to left-center field. Silverman added a two-run double, and Day came up for a second time in the inning to drive in a run-scoring single. The Owls posted nine runs in the frame and led 13-0 after three innings.

Westfield State added four additional runs in the bottom half of the sixth, punctuated by two-out two-run home run by sophomore Trey Faulkner (Springfield, Mass.). The Owls have clubbed six home runs in 20 innings this season.

Johnson & Wales recorded their lone run in the seventh inning on an RBI ground out by Xavier Botelho (Rehoboth, Mass.). Ryan Schultz (Hebron, Conn.) started the game for the Wildcats, surrendering nine earned runs.

Day led the Owls with four RBI, adding a double along with his third inning home run. Silverman and Graveline each compiled three RBI. Marshall, Palmer, and Faulkner all had multi-hit games.

Westfield State faces off against Minnesota-Morris in their next match-up tomorrow at 5:30 P.M. from Northeast Regional Park in Davenport, Florida.