Baseball Drops 4-3 MASCAC Decision to Westfield

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Westfield State University baseball team edged visiting Bridgewater State University, 4-3, in walk-off fashion on Friday afternoon in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) affair at Hagan Field.

The Owls improve to 23-13 on the season and 14-5 in the MASCAC, while the Bears fall to 26-12 overall and 16-3 in conference play.

Westfield opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning as graduate designated hitter Max Silverman (Westford, Mass.) doubled with two outs and scored on an RBI single to center off the bat of senior left fielder Ethan Day (Meriden, Conn.).

The Bears knotted the score at 1-1 in the top of the second. Sophomore third baseman Kyle Suraci (Clinton, Conn.) led off the frame with a double, advanced to third on a ground out and trotted home on junior designated hitter Sean Goudey's (Weymouth, Mass.) RBI single.

Bridgewater took a 2-1 lead in the third inning. With one out, freshman second baseman Scott Emerson (Peabody, Mass.) and sophomore right fielder Jay Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) worked back-to-back walks and sophomore left fielder Joe Frechette (Plymouth, Mass.) followed with an RBI single.

The Owls tied things up in the home half of the third as senior centerfielder Nick Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) doubled to lead off the inning and freshman right fielder Samuel Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) followed with a walk. Martin advanced to third on a fly out and then raced home when Day was robbed by a nice running catch by the right fielder Wladkowski who also doubled up Palmer on the play.

Silverman homered over the left field fence in the fifth to give the hosts a 3-2 lead.

The Bears rallied in the top of the seventh to push across the tying run. Goudey was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Emerson's two-out infield single. The base knock by Emerson extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

The scored remained knotted at 3-3 when the Owls loaded the bases on a base hit and a pair of BSU infield errors. Palmer then won the game with a walk-off sacrifice fly to right field.

Senior righthander Shane Bogli (Vernon, Conn.) tossed two scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win for the Owls. Bogli (4-1) gave up just one hit and fanned three.

Freshman lefthander Shane Handrahan (Raynham, Mass.) suffered the loss on the mound for the Bears in relief of senior righthander David Kerns (East Cambridge, Mass.). Handrahan (4-1) allowed just one unearned run on two hits and a walk. Kerns worked the first six innings and gave up three runs in five hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts.

Silverman was the only batter of the game to finish with multiple hits as he went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs and an RBI.

Wladkowski reached safely three times for the Bears as he singled and walked twice in four plate appearances.

The two teams will wrap up regular season play on Saturday at BSU's Alumni Park with game one of the MASCAC doubleheader getting underway at noon. The Bears need one win to claim the conference regular season title outright. If the Owls sweep the doubleheader, the two teams will share the MASCAC crown and Westfield will be the top seed in next week's MASCAC Tournament.