Baseball Faces Fitchburg in Opening Round of MASCAC Tournament

WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Westfield State baseball team will begin postseason play on Thursday, May 11 at 11:00 A.M. in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference first round elimination game against Fitchburg State in a neutral site game from Bridgewater, Mass.

The Owls enter the conference tournament as the third overall seed with a record of 13-8 in league play and 19-18 overall, sweeping Bridgewater State in the regular season series finale to solidify their placement. The Falcons hold the sixth overall seed in postseason play with a mark of 9-12 in the MASCAC and 18-19 on the season.

Westfield won the regular season series with the Fitchburg as the Owls took two of three games earlier in the year by scores of 2-1 and 21-8. The Falcons took the middle game by a final of 11-7.

Westfield leads the conference with 29 home runs with Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) and Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) currently in the top five in the league in that category. Marshall holds the team lead in homers (10), runs batted in (39), runs scored (37) and walks (31). He is top three in the conference ranks with a .502 on-base and a .724 slugging percentage.

Burnett tops the Owls with a .366 batting average, collecting nine homers, 15 doubles, and 33 RBI. Graduate outfielder Ethan Day (Meriden, Conn.) has caught fire down the stretch, posting a .311 average with 26 RBI.

On the pitching side, Ryan Lapierre (Pittsfield, Mass.) fronts the Owls pitching staff as he is fourth in the league with a 3.03 earned run average. Lapierre leads the staff in innings pitched (59.1) and is tied for the most wins on the squad with four. Junior reliver Joe Espinola (Plymouth, Mass.) has been one of the Owls most consistent arms out of the bullpen, recording four saves with a 2.33 ERA across 19.1 innings.

For the Falcons, senior Vincent Eramo (Shirley, Mass.) has put together a strong season as he is top three in the MASCAC in batting average (.383) and home runs (14) while also pacing the conference with 52 RBI. He is coming off a torrid week at the plate in which he racked up four home runs and 12 RBIs in four games.

Sophomore Jacob Hurrell (Haverhill, Mass.) and first-year Adam Koza (Windham, N.H.) are also hitters to watch for the Falcons. Hurrell is second on the Falcons with five home runs and has also swiped a team-high 17 stolen bases while Koza is second in RBIs with 24.

Lowell Pare (Leominster, Mass.) has been a workhorse out of the Falcons bullpen, piling up a league-high eight wins in 44.0 innings in relief to the tune of a 3.68 ERA. Orion Daily (Nantucket, Mass.) leads the staff in innings pitched, and carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning against Westfield before the Owls rallied for a walk-off victory.

The winner of this game will advance into the double elimination portion of the bracket and will face #2 Bridgewater State in the afternoon at approximately 2:00 P.M. to open MASCAC quarterfinals action.