Although the Westfield Starfires managed seven runs in their opening game against the defending champion Norwich Sea Unicorns, most of those runs were off the backs of free passes granted by the Sea Unicorns’ pitching staff.
It was quite a different story 24 hours later as the Starfires scored 15 runs on 16 hits against the Sea Unicorns in their 15-5 victory on Thursday, May 29 at Bullens Field.
Both squads stand at 1-1-0 after the series split.
Norwich started the scoring once again in this one with a run in the second, but the action heightened in the bottom of the frame for the Starfires. Jack Taxdahl got it started with a single, Ryan Dillon singled, Peter Keblinsky singled, and the Keene State Owl Jonathan Chatfield singled in two runs for the fourth straight hit for Westfield and their first lead of the season. Turning the lineup over, Connecticut native Evan Menzel smoked a ball down the right field line to score Keblinsky for a 3-1 lead.
Not satisfied with just three, the Starfires got some insurance in the third. Dillon got hit by a pitch, then Keblinsky had a base knock to left as the Southern Maine product became the first Starfire to record a multi-hit game. Dillon then scored on an error and a few batters later, American International College veteran Josh Frometa drove in the fifth run of the day with a base knock.
The bottom of the order continued to produce, taking advantage of free passes from the Sea Unicorns. In the fourth, Cornell’s Dillon drove in a pair of runs after a single sent home Alex Benevento and Taxdahl as the home team took a 7-1 lead.
On the bump, future Connecticut Husky Traigh Skiffington came on in relief, getting the final out in the second inning and tossing a scoreless third and fourth.
Local product Sean McNamara from Westfield State came in to toss the top of the fifth, although Norwich tagged him for two runs on two hits and two walks. However, a brilliant defensive play for the Starfires prevented the inning from being much worse as Benevento in right field gunned down a Sea Unicorn trying to advance first to third on a single, holding the Sea Unicorns to just three runs.
The visitors added another run in the sixth after former Starfire Jayden Novak had an RBI single, and another scored in the seventh. Once again, though, another greedy Sea Unicorn was thrown out trying to advance an extra base, and the lead was now at 7-5.
In the bottom of the seventh, Keblinsky singled for his third hit of the day, Chatfield walked, and then Menzel singled to juice the bases. After the Sea Unicorns looked like they were going to escape after a double play to get the lead runner and the batter-runner, Ohio product Caleb Karll walked and Boston College product Ben Williams drew four balls with the bases loaded as command struggles continued for the Sea Unicorns pitching staff, scoring a run to give the home squad an 8-5 lead.
After Norwich ran themselves out on the bases yet again, Westfield broke the game wide open in the bottom of the eighth. John Mass started the train with a pinch-hit single, which started an inning where nine of the first ten batters reached with five singles, four walks, and several wild pitches in between.
Eventually, the bases were loaded up, the Starfires were leading 14-5, and Ryan Dillon socked the ball to center field for a sacrifice fly, scoring Williams for the ten-run lead. The game concluded right then and there with the ten-run rule in effect, preventing the defending champs from getting to pick up the bats again.
Keblinsky led the way with four hits while Menzel, Frometa, Karll, and Dillon all chipped in a pair of base hits with both Frometa and Dillon driving home three. In total, nine different players recorded hits, every spot in the order beyond the sixth inning reached safely, and Paul Bonfiglio’s squad was retired in order only once of the eight innings they took the bats.
Pitching-wise, Skiffington recorded the win with his 2 ⅓ innings of relief while Stonehill’s Tanyon Weber pitched a crucial shutout top of the eighth back when it was still a game, earning the save due to the Starfires only commanding a three-run lead at the time.
Westfield will pack their bags and head on the road for a matchup against the New Britain Bees for a night game on Friday, May 30 at 6:35 p.m. in New Britain, Connecticut.
