Baseball Runs Past Framingham State, 9-1

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 29, 2023) – The Western New England baseball team cruised past the Rams of Framingham State on Wednesday afternoon, getting an excellent season debut from Eddie Murray on the hill while the offense clicked for 13 hits in the win from George E. Trelease Park. 

Records:

• Western New England: 10-4-1
• Framingham State University: 6-7

Pitching Records:

• W: Eddie Murray: 1-0
• L:  Cameron Prescott: 0-1

How it Happened:
Eddie Murray made his Golden Bears season debut on the hill grabbing an unconventional 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first, getting Framingham's Ryan Boyle to line out into a double play to quickly begin momentum for WNE. A leadoff walk to Paul Villecco and a single up the middle for CJ Willis quickly put runners on base for the Golden Bears, while Cody Waterbury would deliver WNE's first RBI of the game, sending a scorching single to left field to give WNE a 1-0 lead. Jake Gerraughty would soon follow with an RBI sac-fly to center field to score Willis as Western New England would take a two-run lead quickly on Framingham State. 

While Murray continued his dominance on the hill, the bottom of the third would score five runs for the blue and gold which began with a three-run home run for Cody Waterbury, who jacks his first home run of the season and fourth of his career, grabbing his fourth RBI on the game, sending WNE to a 4-0 lead. Aaron Cole would reach via walk while Kohtaro Shimada would get on base on a rare catcher's interference call and Vincent Caccavale would walk, filing the bases with two outs in the innings. John Bova, who hit for the cycle just two days prior, would single through the left side of the infield and into left field to score two runs, giving the Golden Bears a 7-0 lead through three innings of play. 

A leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth inning by CJ Willis would extend Western New England's lead to eight runs before Framingham State would get on the board in the game. The Rams would capitalize on an RBI double in the top of the fifth, though it would not take long before WNE would grab the run back when John Bova picked up his third RBI of the game on a sac-fly, scoring Kohtaro Shimada, giving the Golden Bears a 9-1 lead. 

From there, pitching would take over as the Western New England bullpen, consisting of Aidan Gowaski, Tyler Curtis, Lucas Kamoen, and TJ Brezezicki would allow just four hits through four innings while striking out five Rams to secure the victory for the Golden Bears as Western New England would go on to win by a final score of 9-1. 

Around the Horn:

• Cody Waterbury led WNE with four RBIs in the game, including collecting his first home run of the season. John Bova collected a hit and three RBIs on the afternoon.
• CJ Willis led all hitters with four hits and collected one RBI in the win. 
• SP Eddie Murray went the first five innings for WNE, giving up just two hits and a run while walking just one. The WNE bullpen struck out five Rams to seal the deal. 
• Framingham State used eight pitchers in the contest with Cameron Prescott taking his first loss of the season after opening the game, giving up two hits and two runs while walking one. 
• As the dish, Shane Costello led FSU with two hits as the Rams collected just six total his in the game. 
• Of the 109 pitches thrown by WNE in the game, 70 of those were strikes. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England heads to UMass-Boston on Thursday, March 30 for a 3:00 PM first pitch.