Owls Falter in Extra Innings at Coast Guard, 6-5

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Coast Guard junior Justin Stasiak (Effort, Pa.) laced a walk-off RBI single to left field to cap off a three-run eleventh inning rally over Westfield State, 6-5, on a Wednesday afternoon from New London, Connecticut.

Westfield State falls to 7-6 while Coast Guard improves to 9-6.

The Owls opened the 11^th inning with an offensive jolt of their own as graduate student Casey Boudreau (Shrewsbury, Mass.) led off with a double down the left field line. The next hitter Samuel Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) continued to build off of a productive day at the plate with an RBI double to drive in Boudreau and put the Owls up one, 4-3. Sophomore Trey Faulkner (Springfield, Mass.) followed with a run-scoring single to center to plate Palmer. Westfield did have a first and third situation with one out in an opportunity to extend the lead, but consecutive outs kept the Owls up by two runs.

In the bottom half of the inning, Coast Guard put immediate pressure on the Owls, loading up the bases via walk, base hit, and a hit batter. Another walk would send home a run, trimming the Westfield lead to one run. The next batter, Grayson Irvin (Wilmington, N.C.) tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Then Stasiak delivered the finishing touches to the rally, knocking in the game-winning run.

Westfield State opened the scoring in the first inning off the red-hot bat of sophomore Nolan Florence (Chicopee, Mass.) who demolished a two-run shot to left field to score Max Silverman (Westford, Mass.) and put the Owls up 2-0.

The Bears got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning as John Carroll (Yardley, Mass.) connected on a RBI single to left to cut the deficit in half.

Both teams would be held scoreless until the sixth inning, where Palmer unloaded on a solo home run to left field to regain a two-run advantage. Once again the Bears would get that run back in the bottom of the frame, this time on a sacrifice fly by Carroll.

In the eighth inning, after a slew of miscues by the Owls defense, Carroll would score on a passed ball to tie the game at three apiece.

Westfield starter Ryan Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) turned in a quality start for the Owls, tossing six innings and allowing two runs on three hits. He walked four and struck out five and exited the game with the Owls up one run. Senior Matt Motyka (Vernon, Conn.) took the loss, allowing three runs in an inning plus.

Cody Fidler (Temple, Pa.) started the game for the Bears, pitching a full nine innings, surrendering three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. Sean Rojas (San Antonio, Texas) earned the victory as he came in relief in the 11^th inning.

Westfield State will travel to Fitchburg State to open up conference play on Friday at 3:00 P.M. before returning home to face the Falcons in a doubleheader set from Bud and Jim Hagan Field on Saturday starting at noon.