The Westfield Starfires split a pair of seven-inning games against the New Britain Bees, winning 4-3 and falling 3-1, on Friday, July 3.
Westfield jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Louisiana Tech sophomore Easton Sanders started the offense with a one-out double, and scored on Columbia University junior Wyatt Raymond’s subsequent single.
Raymond was not done, either, swiping second and drawing an errant throw, which allowed him to advance to third. He ultimately came home two pitches later as Cornell University sophomore Aidan Barclay smacked a 1-1 pitch to right field for a base hit.
Just as quickly, New Britain erased the lead. The Bees loaded the bases with one out on a single and two walks, scoring once on an RBI groundout and a second time on a base hit to tie the game; a third run came in on an error on a pickoff attempt, leaving Westfield down 3-2 after one.
Both teams settled down defensively after that, with each team managing a few hits in the middle innings but no runs until the fourth. Barclay led off with a single and swiped second shortly after. Then, on a pitch to University of Massachusetts-Amherst junior Vance Bonior that went for ball four, he took off for third, and not only stole that bag, but induced another wild throw, allowing him to score the tying run.
The game remained tied until the final frame. With one out, Raymond knocked an 0-2 pitch into center field. He then took off to steal second and forced another bad throw that allowed him to move up an additional 90 feet.
Westfield had two outs, and Barclay at the dish. He fell behind 1-2, but on the next pitch, put the end of the bat on the ball and snuck it to the back of the infield dirt for an infield hit, scoring Raymond and giving the Starfires the lead.
New Britain, now desperate, put its leadoff man on with a base hit, but a stolen base attempt was finally punished rather than rewarded as a perfect throw by Kansas State University rookie Jett Vindiola and a tag by Coastal Carolina University freshman States Farr put the runner out.
A walk and a hit batter put the winning run at first, and a groundout put both runners in scoring position. Westfield needed an out, and incoming University of Connecticut freshman Noah Farrell delivered, drawing a grounder to third to end the game.
Central Connecticut State University’s Zach Worzel went four frames, allowing two earned runs of three total on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Farrell picked up the win, with one hit and three total free passes in two innings of work. On the other side, Alex Casey took a tough-luck loss, allowing the unearned seventh-inning run on four hits in 3.1 innings with three strikeouts.
If game one was close, game two was even closer. American International College senior Zach Ruffing and Saint John’s University’s Thomas Harding put up zeros for three innings, albeit in different fashions. Ruffing was able to escape jams repeatedly, including second-and-third in the first inning and starting a 1-6-3 double play in the second, while Harding struck out five straight Starfires in the second and third as part of a nine-punchout showing.
In the fourth, Westfield finally broke the ice. Central Connecticut’s Nick Fox laced a single to left, and took second on a wild pitch. He later took third on another wild pitch during a plate appearance by Sanders. Ultimately, he scored as Sanders hit a grounder to third that was misplayed, giving Westfield a 1-0 lead.
New Britain nearly tied it in the home half, with a two-out single plus an advance on a wild pitch by Ben Kuja. A subsequent single was hit to right, but Bonior came up firing, and his throw home was perfect; by the time Kuja was halfway from third to the plate, Louisiana Tech sophomore Cooper Smith was waiting with the ball to tag him out and keep Westfield ahead.
In the sixth, however, New Britain finally came through. Tim Hennig hit a leadoff single and took second on a groundout before scoring on a Landon Penfield double in the right-center gap.
Westfield made a pitching change, but two walks loaded the bases, and the Bees ultimately took the lead on a sacrifice fly, and added another run with a straight steal of home for a 3-1 lead. The Starfires came up empty in the seventh, leaving the doubleheader as a split.
Ruffing took the loss despite a strong outing; in 5.1 innings he allowed two runs with no walks and five strikeouts. Saint John’s Tommy Conley was the winner, with three perfect relief innings behind his collegiate teammate Harding’s four-inning performance.
Westfield returns to the friendly confines of Bullens Field for another doubleheader on Sunday, July 5 at 1:00 p.m. against the Lowell Spinners. The second game, which will begin 30 minutes after the end of the first, will be the 200th game at Bullens Field in franchise history.
