In a wild game where the Starfires blew a 5-0 lead early, Northeastern product Anthony Ruggiero hit what proved to be a game-winning two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Westfield Starfires over the Nashua Silver Knights 9-6 on Saturday, July 12, at Billy Bullens Field.

The Starfires get back into the win column and now stand at 9-28-2. The Silver Knights fall to 21-19-0 after coming into the game shutting out their opponents in three of their past four contests.

The Starfires jumped all over Andrew Chenevert and the Silver Knights from the opening inning.

On the very first pitch he saw, Connecticut Husky Evan Menzel smacked a ball over the right field fence for a leadoff home run and his second long ball of the season. Two batters later, Northwestern’s Griffin Mills clubbed a home run off the scoreboard in left, giving Westfield a 2-0 lead on Mills’s fifth round tripper of the season.

In the second inning, the Starfires loaded the bases, then Ohio’s Caleb Karll drove a run in with a sacrifice fly, while Mills stayed hot with an RBI single as the Starfires doubled their lead.

Nashua’s starter came into the game as one of the most dominant pitchers in the league with a 5-0 record and a 2.17 ERA, but only lasted two innings against the Westfield bats, surrendering four runs.

The Starfires got up 5-0 in the third after a leadoff double by Ruggiero followed by a single from Iona’s Cole Silvia.

However, Nashua did not hang their heads, and in the fourth inning, two singles and a three-run home run by Dave York pulled the Silver Knights within two runs. After an out, the next three reached on base hits, with two singles and a double sandwiched in between, scoring two additional runs, and just like that, the Silver Knights tied the game at five.

A leadoff walk in the top of the fifth came back to bite Westfield as a sacrifice bunt followed by a base hit into right scored the sixth Nashua run, and the visitors took a lead for the first time in the game.

Past the third inning, the Starfires got runners on in each of the next three innings, but a couple of double plays turned by the Silver Knights hindered their ability to score.

The scored stay at 6-5 in favor of Nashua up until the seventh inning, where with two outs, Keene State’s Jonathan Chatfield got a base hit, then Ruggiero hit a high drive into deep right field that clanked off the foul pole for the third home run of the game for Westfield, swinging the one-run lead back into the hands of the Starfires, up 7-6.

After reliever Jasper Nadel of George Washington mowed down Nashua in the eighth, Westfield added two insurance runs in the bottom of the frame after the inning began with a double from Silvia. Nashua elected to intentionally walk Menzel, and after Josh Frometa advanced Silvia to third with a grounder up the middle, Mills delivered a base hit, leading to his third run driven in on the night.

Future Virginia Cavalier, Griffin Enis, followed Mills up with an infield single to put three on base, then Chatfield added an RBI to his day with an infield single of his own, scoring Frometa and giving the Starfires a three-run cushion heading into the top of the ninth.

The Silver Knights got a one-out bloop single from Patrick Shrake in their final at-bats, but Nadel shut the door after a fielder’s choice and a strikeout, giving the Starfires a 9-6 win at Bullens.

Mills’s average keeps climbing, now up to .270 after his three-hit day. His five home runs are now in a tie for third in the league. Chatfield’s three-hit day gets him up to .300 for the first time on the season, and the three home runs are the first time the Starfires have gotten multiple dingers in a game as a team.

Ruggerio had a double to go along with his home run and two RBIs while Silvia, and Minnesota product Jack Taxdahl each recorded two-hit nights as well.

Nadel was the winning pitcher on the night and was lights out. The Westport, Connecticut native tossed the final three innings, yielding just two hits and whiffing five Silver Knights.

For Frometa, his entrance into the contest in the seventh marked his 100th appearance with the team. Already the franchise’s games played leader, the American International College product and Holyoke native is the first player in team history to reach the mark.

The Starfires will head back to Fitton Field for the third time this week to play the Worcester Bravehearts in a matinee matchup at 4:00 p.m.

Tickets to all Starfires home games can be found at www.westfieldstarfires.com.