Box Score

WESTFIELD, Massachusetts (July 11, 2024) – Nichols College senior Clark Churchill fired 6.1 innings of strong relief and the bats came alive again as the Westfield Starfires downed the Brockton Rox 7-4 at the Richards Jewelers Diamond at Billy Bullens Field on Thursday, July 11.

Westfield now is 23-13-1 on the season, good for 47 points and first place in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. The team is five points clear of both the Norwich Sea Unicorns and New Britain Bees with all three teams still having 22 games to play. The win marks the first time in the six-year history of the franchise that the team has reached 10 games above .500 at any point in a season.

It was Washington State University’s Trey Cruz who started the scoring with a bang, drilling the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first over the right-field fence for his league-high sixth home run of the season.

Cruz started the next run of Starfires scoring in the third by working a two-out walk after falling behind 0-2 in the count. He was followed in taking ball four by Central Connecticut State University’s Aidan Redahan, and College of Charleston rookie Jayden Novak made the walks hurt with a two-run double to left, scoring himself a batter later as University of Louisiana-Lafayette junior Luke Yuhasz smacked a first-pitch single to center for a 4-0 edge.

Brockton did get a run back in the fourth on an RBI double by Sebastian Mexico, but Cruz and Novak countered it in the fifth with a pair of singles, with Novak driving Cruz in for the second time on the day.

The Rox netted an unearned run in the sixth with a double followed by a fielding error, allowing Mexico to hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Conner Vercollone.

In the eighth, Brockton closed the gap further with two runs on three hits, but Southern New Hampshire University reliever Devin Divita was able to get Bentley University’s Brendan Sencaj to fly out, winning the battle of Northeast-10 Conference athletes and ending the threat.

The Starfires then scored two unusual runs; Boston College’s Julio Solier walked, and moved to second on a wild pitch during the plate appearance of Hofstra University’s Luke Masiuk, who also ended up drawing ball four. Cruz came to the plate, but did not need to drive the runners in, as multiple further wild pitches brought both runners in.

The 7-4 lead was all the Starfires needed; Franklin Pierce University’s Kyle Salvati worked a perfect ninth inning, with Dante Leach lining out to Solier to close out the win.

Churchill’s 6.1 innings of work in the win included five strikeouts; he allowed six hits and three runs, two of which were earned.

“Once I step between the lines I try to lock in and compete with every single pitch I have…it’s game time,” Churchill said of his appearance, noting that he felt he was “really good with throwing strikes.”

The Starfires hit the road again for three games in two days with the Worcester Bravehearts, beginning Friday, July 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Fitton Field on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross.