Baseball Drops Home Opener to Westfield State

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 25, 2022) – The Western New England Baseball team saw their opponents, the Westfield State University Owls, score seven of their eight runs on the afternoon via home runs, outscoring the Golden Bears 8-5, sending Western New England to a loss in their home opener of the 2022 season. 

Records:

• Western New England: 6-4
• Westfield State: 6-4

How it Happened:

Jacob Hobart, who made his second career collegiate start, got roughed up early as the visiting Owls were able to tally on just the second pitch of the game when Nick Martin went yard for Westfield State to give the Owls an early 1-0 lead. Hobart would settle down in the first inning and escape a two on and one out situation to send the Golden Bears to bat. Western New England would fail to score in the first three innings, watching the Owls come away with the first six runs of the contest. Martin would come around again to knock another pitch out of the ballpark, this time a two-run blast, giving the Owls a 3-0 lead in the top of the second. The home run parade would continue for Westfield State in the top of the third when Nolan Florence would send the ball over the fences, a three-run shot to give Westfield State the commanding 6-0 lead. 

The bats for the Golden Bears would come alive in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Western New England picked up their first run of the afternoon as Cody Waterbury came through with an RBI double to left field that scored CJ Willis, after Willis led the inning off with a single to center field coming around to score of the Waterbury double, giving WNE their first run of the contest. Westfield State would quickly respond in the top of the 5^th inning as Florence would lead the inning off with a home run, his second of the afternoon, giving Westfield the 7-1 lead. Martin would plate another, reaching on a fielder's choice to score another run for Westfield State, as the Owls took a big 8-1 lead out of the top of the 5^th.

Western New England would come alive with their bats in the bottom of the 5^th when Willis would continue his tear to start the season, coming through with an RBI double to left field, scoring Jake Balderston, plating WNE's second run of the contest. After Sean Jamieson reached on an error by the Owls, Ben Harrison would come through with a triple to the right-center gap to score both Willis and Jamieson, sending WNE the a four run deficit. 

The bullpen would get involved early for the Golden Bears as Brandon Kohl, AJ Bandura, Aidan Gowaski, and Andrew Chiodi would lock down the Owls, giving up a combined five hits and two runs while walking two and striking out one.  

WNE came through with another run in the bottom of the 8^th inning as Vincent Caccavale would double into center field, scoring Paul Villecco, giving the Golden Bears just a three-run deficit. After Westfield State went down in order in the top of the 9^th, the Golden Bears made it interesting, seeing three batters get hit by a pitch with just one out, seeing a threat to win the game with one swing of the bat. Western New England would come up unsuccessful with their final two batters of the contest, falling by a final score of 8-5 on Friday afternoon. 

Around the Horn:

• CJ Willis and Vincent Caccavale each collected two hits for Western New England in the loss, while Ben Harrison would go 3-4 with two RBIs. 
• WNE left 11 runners on base, while Westfield State left 12 on the base paths. 
• Seven of the Owls eight runs were scored via the long ball in the contest as both Nick Martin and Nolan Florence would connect for two home runs, collecting all eight of the Owls RBIs between them. 
• AJ Bandura came out of the bullpen for WNE, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up just a singular walk. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Both teams will head to Westfield State to play two games on Saturday, March 26, with game times projected for 12:00 pm and 3:00 pm.