Owls Offense Ignites Early in 8-2 Win Over Mass. Maritime

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Chase Racine (Pittsfield, Mass.) and Colin Ryan (Chelmsford, Mass.) both recorded first-inning triples for a Westfield State offense that scored seven runs within the first three innings as part of an 8-2 victory over Mass. Maritime Academy in a MASCAC game from Hagan Field on Tuesday afternoon.

The Owls improve to 11-10 in conference play and 14-22 on the season while the Buccaneers drop to 12-12 in the league and 20-16 overall. Mass. Maritime has completed their conference regular season schedule while Westfield owns the tiebreaker in the event the two sides end up with the same league record at the end of the season.

Early offense was the key to success for the Owls with Racine starting the scoring in the first inning by lashing a fly ball out to deep right field, dropping past the diving Jake Duffy in right field where he would pull into third with a two-run triple.

Racine would come home to score on a wild pitch in the next at bat, then with two outs, Ryan laced a sharp line drive into left field, sinking and falling into left where the ball kicked past the outfielder. TJ May (North Granby, Conn.) would score with Ryan close behind, racing towards third where he was given the green light to go home in an effort for an inside the park home run, but a successful relay from the Bucs cut him down at the plate. The Owls led 4-0 after the first inning.

In the third inning, Sam Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) led off the inning with a single, then stole second. Racine drew a walk, then both advanced into scoring position after a wild pitch. May brought in Palmer on a grounder to shortstop, then after an Antonio Scalise (Pittsfield, Mass.) single, Ryan singled home Racine on a ball hit to left field.

Kaen Smith (Washingtonville, N.Y.) capped the scoring for the Owls with a sacrifice fly to right, plating May to give Westfield a 7-0 lead through the first third of the game.

Mass. Maritime had an opportunity to get back into the game after a single and two walks loaded the bases to open the fourth inning. Owls starter Jack Novak (Colchester, Conn.) did a sound job mitigating the damage, striking out the next hitter before allowing a two-run single to Colsen Loughren to trim the deficit to five runs. After another walk which reloaded the bases, Novak buckled down by fanning the next batter, then forcing a grounder to escape the inning.

He finished his outing by retiring the side in order in the fifth, then turned the game over to the Owls bullpen which was excellent as the quartet of Brendan Goonan (Raynham, Mass.), Ethan Quinn (Northfield, Mass.), Sean McNamara (Lowell, Mass.), and Ryan Peters (Billerica, Mass.) did not allow a hit over the final four innings of the game, each recording an inning of work.

Westfield tacked on an additional run in the seventh inning, as Connor Benvenuto (New City, N.Y.) deposited a two-strike pitch into right field to bring in Ryan for an 8-2 lead.

Peters closed the game by catching the final batter of the game looking on a front door breaking ball, touching up a spotless combined outing for the bullpen.

Palmer, Ryan, and Benvenuto each had two hits for the Owls while Ryan and Racine each had a pair of RBI. Loughren had two of the Bucs three hits on the day, driving in both runs.

Novak (W, 1-4) took home the win after throwing five innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out two. Sam Wooley (L, 4-2) took the loss for Mass. Maritime, throwing the first three innings while giving up seven runs (six earned) on six hits. Jack O'Rourke held down the Owls over the remaining five innings to just one run.

Westfield State wraps up the regular season with a three-game series this weekend against Salem State. The Owls will host the Vikings in the first game on Friday at 3:30 P.M. on senior day from Bud and Jim Hagan Field in Westfield. Mass. Maritime will play a pair of non-conference games in Wentworth and Curry before preparing for the MASCAC Tournament next week.