Box Score

NORWICH, Connecticut (August 11, 2024) – The 2024 Futures Collegiate Baseball Season came to a close on Sunday, August 11, as the Norwich Sea Unicorns earned a 5-4 walk-off win against the Westfield Starfires in the second game of the FCBL Championship Series for a 2-0 series victory.

Despite falling short of the ultimate goal, the season concluded with so much to celebrate for the franchise.

First and foremost, the Starfires won a franchise-record 36 games between the regular season and the playoffs and earned their first-ever postseason series victory with a sweep of the New Britain Bees in the FCBL Semifinals. It started with the team’s first-ever playoff win in franchise history, in just its second appearance, when the College of Charleston’s Jayden Novak crushed a walk-off grand slam in the postseason opener at Bullens Field.

As a team, the Starfires were the league’s most prolific offense, totaling 365 runs across 56 regular season games thanks to a high-powered lineup that crushed 41 longballs during the campaign. Westfield hitters were the only group to collectively drive in more than 300 runs in the regular season and gain 700 total bases as well, and the speed of the team was effective as well with an 82.8 percent success rate on steal attempts, the best in the league.

Leading the way for the Starfires offense was Gianno Merlonghi. The Central Connecticut State University junior played a combined 53 regular season and postseason contests in blue, leading the FCBL, and the All-Star finished among the top hitters in the league with 40 runs scored and 34 batted in along with 16 steals. He also was a dominant force in the outfield, running away with the FCBL lead with 11 outfield assists.

His college teammate, Aidan Redahan, also thrilled with the bat and the glove; his 57 combined regular and postseason hits ranked third in the FCBL and he produced endless highlight reel plays at first base.

Other notable showings included a return for CCSU’s Danny Hussey, who rejoined the team in the stretch run for his third season in Westfield and collected 17 hits, including two longballs in the regular season and two more in the playoffs, in his 13 games. Jackson Haker, who will join the CCSU squad this fall, reached the All-Star Game in his third season and concluded his summer ball career representing the Starfires in 87 games, second-most in franchise history.

Josh Frometa, in his second season with the Starfires, etched his name in the record books by reaching a team-record 40 career walks to go with 17 times hit by pitch for 57 free passes. The team’s 2023 Adam Keenan Award winner is the only player in team history with 50 free bases, and the season finale made the American International College star the fifth playerin franchise history to play 75 games for the team.

Rookie Cam Papetti heads to Bryant University after an outstanding summer where he cut down 14 runners attempting to steal, second most in the FCBL, and had a .281 average in the regular season. He and Novak were joined by Springfield’s Julio Solier as rookies with a massive impact, as the Boston College Eagle-to-be went for a .290 average while playing stellar defense at second and third.

Finally, on the offensive side, Trey Cruz gave the Starfires their third league home run champion in four seasons, as the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi transfer smashed eight baseballs beyond the fence, joining Cole Bartels and Nick Serce in taking the league title for round-trip shots.

On the pitching side, Jake Jachym rewrote Westfield’s record books in a 6-1 season to improve to 8-1 in his Starfires career; the Keene State ace and Westfield native now owns the team’s record for wins in a campaign and a career and his 2.70 ERA in the regular season led the league among qualifiers, the first ERA title for the FCBL in franchise history. He closed his campaign with 17 straight shutout innings, blanking the Bees in seven frames during the team’s first-ever shutout sweep in a doubleheader and then baffling them for eight scoreless in the squad’s semifinal clincher at New Britain Stadium.

Jachym and Franklin Pierce University’s Kyle Salvati shared Westfield’s season high in strikeouts; combining their regular season and playoff exploits, both cut down 33 hitters at the dish, just ahead of Jachym’s college teammate, Daniel Cantafi, who authored 32 punchouts.

Second-year Starfire and Westfield State University reliever Joe Fischer also earned a spot in the record book, tying Starfires legend Shayne Audet by making his 26th career appearance on the mound for the most pitching appearances in franchise history.

Statistics aside, the moments that made the 2024 season were plenty.

There were incredible events throughout the campaign, including an appearance at Bullens Field by The Voice finalist and Westfield native Madison Curbelo and by Boston Celtics championship winners Cedric Maxwell and Brian Scalabrine. The team hosted another two successful weeks of its summer camp, as well as a special night with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Westfield and another fantastic Westfield Gas & Electric Night and fireworks show.

The squad also took Bullens Magic around the Pioneer Valley and beyond, coming up winners in the second iteration of the Starfires Summer Classic, presented by MGM Springfield, at the Walker Memorial Grandstand in Forest Park as well as victors in the inaugural Starfires Showdown at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford.

All told, the Starfires welcomed 22,814 fans across 26 regular season and playoff games. It marks the third-straight campaign where Westfield has seen at least 22,000 enter the gates of Billy Bullens Field.

Those fans had plenty of on-field thrills, too, as Westfield won seven games that the team trailed in the seventh inning or later. At home, the Starfires were particularly potent; Westfield’s .704 points percentage at Bullens Field during the regular season led the league, and the team was the only squad with fewer than 10 regulation defeats at home, postseason included.

The franchise will head into the off-season with its sights set on continuing to improve the fan experience, increasing the connection with Westfield’s community and businesses, and putting a baseball team on Bullens Field that the Whip City can proudly call its own.

Fans are encouraged to continue to follow the Starfires on social media for off-season updates, special offers, and more; the team can be found on Facebook at Westfield Starfires and on X and Instagram @starfiresbb.