Owls Tally 11 First Inning Runs to Fly Past Falcons, 19-2

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) finished a double shy of the cycle and senior starter Colton Vasseur (Colchester, Conn.) tossed six scoreless frames as the Owls defeated Fitchburg State 19-2 in a MASCAC contest from Hagan Field in Westfield, Mass. on Friday afternoon.

The Owls improve to 23-9 overall and sit in second place in the conference standings at 10-6. The Falcons are now 12-15 on the season and 6-9 in the MASCAC.

Westfield blew the game wide open after just one inning of play, registering a remarkable 11 runs on eight hits in the opening frame to take a lopsided 11-0 lead. The Owls sent 16 total hitters to the dish with seven different players getting two at bats in the inning alone.

Sam Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) began the scoring with a RBI single into center, then Chase Racine (Pittsfield, Mass.) followed with another single to plate Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) for a 2-0 lead. After a double steal, Devin Slattery (Ware, Mass.) drove in two on a single into left to double the lead to four runs.

With two outs in the frame, eight consecutive Owls reached base including a grand slam from Burnett on a rocket over the left field fence. Slattery picked up two more RBI on his second turn to the plate in the frame, scoring Palmer and Marshall to push Westfield into double digit runs and an 11-0 lead. Slattery had four RBI in the inning.

The Owls continued to build their lead in the fourth inning as Burnett and Marshall tagged consecutive triples into the right centerfield gap to score two runs and open a 14-0 lead.

While the Westfield offense was humming throughout the contest, Vasseur was equally dominant on the other side of the ball, firing three hitless innings to begin his outing to keep the Falcons offense down. He gave up just two hits, both singles, over six innings, walking one and fanning four for his second win of the season.

Burnett and Slattery each finished with three hits and five RBI for the Owls. Robison Baez (Dominican Republic), Justin Neidel (Attleboro, Mass.), Thomas LaSpada (West Hartford, Conn.) and Racine all had two hits for a Westfield offense that racked up 22 hits which is their second highest output of the season.

Joseph Hartnett (North Attleboro, Mass.) got the start for Fitchburg, taking the loss while allowing eight runs. The Falcons got on the scoreboard in the eighth inning after a sacrifice fly from Joseph DiCrosta (Wallingford, Conn.) and a RBI single from Brady Campbell (Sandwich, Mass.).

The two teams entered today's game with the two highest team batting averages in the MASCAC.

Westfield and Fitchburg will continue their regular season series on Sunday at Fitchburg State with game one beginning at 1:00 P.M.