In a twin bill to make up a postponement from last Saturday, Bullens Field saw a pair of one-sided victories with the Westfield Starfires besting the New Britain Bees 10-0 in game one, but the Bees holding the Starfires scoreless in game two, 7-0, on Tuesday, June 3, in Westfield, Massachusetts.
The Starfires stand at 3-3 at day’s end, while the Bees are now 2-4, with both of their victories coming over Westfield.
In game one, the Starfires opened with a big inning in the bottom of the first. The Bees ran into trouble early by walking three of the first four batters, and the conga line continued after Brown’s Alex Benevento singled to right, Ohio Bobcat Brady Laviolette had an RBI groundout, and Southern Maine’s Peter Keblinsky knocked a two-run single as the Starfires batted around in the inning, plating four runs despite collecting just two hits.
The disaster for New Britain continued into the second. After the first two reached, Evan Menzel got in the RBI column with a groundout to plate Michael Quiros, then Boston College’s Ben Williams laced a triple into the right field corner for the first hit that went for extra bases. Benevento and Keblinsky both added their second hits on the day to plate the seventh and eighth runs of the game, and the Starfires took an 8-0 lead.
The third was better for the Bees, but the Starfires still tacked on another run in an inning after Caleb Karll singled, Menzel doubled, then Karll scored on a wild pitch.
Westfield native Jake Jachym made his first start of 2025 for the Starfires, taking the ball for the first time for his hometown team since the 2024 playoffs against the Bees in which he tossed eight innings of shutout baseball. The local product who plays at Keene State dealt with some traffic in the first three, but always worked around baserunners to keep New Britain off the scoreboard, striking out the side in the second after a leadoff single and putting together his first three-up three-down inning in his fourth and final frame of work.
In the fifth, Westfield State Owl Sean McNamara came in from the bullpen and walked the first two hitters he faced, but the in-state native from Lowell ruined the momentum for New Britain, fanning the next three batters to keep the contest at 9-0.
Quiros walked for the third time of the day, and then Menzel drew a free pass as well. A wild pitch and a passed ball later, the Starfires had a 10-run lead, ending the game with the FCBL 10-run rule in the fifth frame.
In a pitchers’ duel on the back end of the twin bill, both offenses took a while to get going.
The Starfires ran themselves into a couple of outs on the bases with a flyball to right that turned into a double play in the first, then a pickoff at first base in the third.
The first real threat for the Bees came at the top of the third with a walk and a single to put two on with no outs. However, Stonehill’s Tanyon Weber held his ground on the rubber, getting a lineout and two flyouts to keep the runners in place and end his afternoon with three scoreless innings of work in his first start for the Starfires.
The first runs came in the top of the fifth. A leadoff hit by pitch, followed by a single, then a double steal, put two runners in scoring position for the first time for either team. The Bees came through with a soft ground ball to short to score the runner from third. The next batter singled into left-center to score the second of the game as the Bees struck first in this one, up 2-0 after Starfires’ pitching tossed 17 straight scoreless innings versus New Britain bats dating back to their first matchup.
The Bees added an insurance run in the fifth, loading the bases with one down and then converting with a sacrifice fly, going up 3-0.
The wheels fell off the bus in the top of the seventh as five of the first six hitters for New Britain reached with base knocks. When it was all said and done, the Bees were up by a touchdown heading into the final inning.
In desperation time down by seven, Nichols College’s Ryan Keating drew a walk with one away, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the game as the Starfires were blanked in the back-end.
The Starfires will look to end a day above .500 for the first time this season as they take on the red-hot Nashua Silver Knights on Wednesday, June 4, at 10:30 a.m. at Bullens Field.
Tickets for the game, and all Starfires home games, can be purchased at www.westfieldstarfires.com.
