The Westfield Starfires used dominant pitching and big hits to defeat the Nashua Silver Knights 6-2 on Friday, July 31.
The Starfires are now 18-30 on the campaign.
Adam Regan greeted Matt Walling in his Westfield debut with a wall-ball double on the first pitch of the game, but from there the early portion of the evening belonged to the Salem State University senior, who struck out a pair on excellent breaking pitches to sit the next three batters in order to escape the jam, then struck out the side in the second.
He fanned two more in the third, keeping the game scoreless until Westfield’s offense woke up. That came in the home half, as University of Massachusetts-Amherst junior Tomm Hennessey walked, and Ryan Ventrelle followed by launching his first home run of the year. The rookie at the University of Notre Dame sailed the ball to right-center, giving Westfield a 2-0 edge.
Westfield might have had more, loading the bases, but Nashua escaped the jam. It hardly mattered, however; Walling worked around a leadoff single to retire the next three.
Nashua finally got to Walling in the fifth, with Caleb Vacchiano being grazed by a pitch to start the inning. He advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw, and Regan singled to center to bring him in.
In the sixth, Westfield put two more on the board. Ventrelle, Clark University junior Cole Camara, and Brown University freshman Morrie Fried all walked to pack the bases with one out. Louisiana Tech sophomore Easton Sanders then ambushed reliever Jayson Serrano, swinging at the first pitch he saw and lining it to center to score Ventrelle.
Sanders’ classmate at Louisiana Tech, Cooper Smith, then hit a flare to center field. It took a brilliant ranging play by Hunter Troiano to get to the ball to make the catch, but he had to turn his back to home plate to do it, allowing Camara to sprint to the dish and beat the throw for another run.
Meanwhile, University of Saint Joseph senior Ethan Slowik, who had come in in the sixth, had picked up where Walling left off. He struck out the side in the seventh, catching a pair looking before inducing an off-balance swinging strikeout on a changeup to end the inning.
Sanders then another chance with the bases loaded in the bottom half, and once again took it, driving a 2-2 pitch between short and third to score Stony Brook University junior Mike Cervoni and Camara, giving Westfield a 6-1 edge.
Slowik was able to grab five quick outs between the eighth and ninth, when Nashua finally had some luck; Troiano hit a slow roller to short that he was able to beat out, and Vacchiano had the ball hit his bat on a check swing and flare into right field. Robby Grasso then came up and hit a high fly to right that should have ended the game, but it was dropped, scoring Troiano.
Westfield went to the bullpen again, calling on Saint Joseph’s College junior Jack Dyer. He faced Mike Villani and won a nine-pitch battle, freezing the second baseman with a pitch on the outside corner to end the game and nail down the win.
Walling struck out eight in five frames, allowing four total hits and the hit batter. Slowik went 3.2 frames with two hits, a walk, and a strikeout.
Westfield will hit the road for the next six games, first visiting Lowell, Massachusetts to battle the Spinners at LeLacheur Park at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 1.
