Five Owls to Play in Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England
Westfield State baseball players Dan Burnett, Ryan Donahue, Ryan Lapierre, Joe Espinola, and Joe Fischer all earned spots on teams within the Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England to begin the summer season.
WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State baseball will be highly represented within the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) of New England for the 2022 summer season with five Owls players named to teams within the league. The FCBL is mostly comprised of Division I and II players across the country with a select number if Division III players. More than 150 Future League players have been drafted by Major League Baseball organizations.
Juniors Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) and Ryan Donahue (Medfield, Mass.) will be returning to the Westfield Starfires and will be joined by junior relivers Joe Espinola (Plymouth, Mass.) and Joe Fischer (Avon, Mass.) for the beginning of the season. Junior starting pitcher Ryan Lapierre (Pittsfield, Mass.) will also be competing in the FCBL for the Pittsfield Suns.
Both the Starfires and the Suns play tomorrow to open the 2023 regular season with Westfield hosting the New Britain Bees at Bullens Field at 10:30 A.M. Pittsfield plays at Wahconah Park tomorrow at 6:35 P.M. against the Nashua Silver Knights to open up their season. The FCBL is a condensed regular season of over 60 games spanning from the end of May to the first week of August followed by playoffs.
Burnett and Lapierre were MASCAC All-Conference First Team selections this past season for the Owls with Burnett registering a .360/.398/.653 slash line with nine home runs and 33 RBIs over 38 games played for the Owls. Lapierre led the Owls in innings pitched (63.2), posting a 3.96 ERA with 71 strikeouts.
Donahue posted the highest strikeouts per nine innings of any pitcher on the Owls pitching staff at 11.98, totaling 41.1 innings and recording a 3-4 record.
Espinola and Fischer were key pieces out of the Owls bullpen all season long. Espinola led the Owls with four saves, serving as the primary closer for Westfield while generating a 2.33 ERA across 19.1 innings. Fischer tallied the most innings in relief (28.2) out of the bullpen, making one start and appearing in 12 other games.