After a shocking win over the first-place New Britain Bees the day prior, the Starfires had a chance for another win against the last-place Lowell Spinners on Friday, June 19. The Starfires did just that, beating Lowell 4-3 to advance to 11-10. Westfield is now 4-0 against the Spinners so far this season.
UMass Boston senior Cam Fisher got the start for Westfield. His first pitch of the game was hit to right field by Lowell’s Jack Quigley for a double. Quigley stole third before Quinn Murphy drew a walk. With runners on the corners and no outs, Ryan O’Leary hit a tough grounder to Starfires’ shortstop and Hobart sophomore Jack O’Neil, who got the out at first as Murphy reached second and Quigley scored from third for the first run of the game to give Lowell the lead, 1-0. Fisher got Lorenzo Camilleri to ground out to first, which advanced Murphy to third with two outs. Fisher struck out the final batter to avoid further scoring for Lowell.
In the top of the second, Fisher struck out the first batter before Lowell’s Jordan Henriquez doubled to right center field. Fisher struck out the next batter for the second out. Lowell’s Marco Zirpolo hit a grounder through the left side of the infield, and Henriquez was waved home; Starfires left fielder and Saint Joseph’s junior Nic Frink threw a dot to Louisiana Tech sophomore catcher Cooper Smith to cut down Henriquez at home for the third out of the inning.
In the top of the third inning, Fisher struck out the first batter before Murphy hit a double, before stealing third base. With Murphy on third, Fisher struck out the next batter for the second out. However, Fisher could not get out of the inning, letting up a single to right field off the bat of Camilleri, which scored Murphy from second and extended the Spinners’ lead to 2-0. The Spinners’ Esteban Dessureault doubled to right field to put runners on second and third, but Fisher fought back from a 3-0 count to strike out the next batter and bring up the Starfires bats.
In the bottom of the third with one out, UMass Amherst junior Vance Bonior reached first after a fielding error by the Lowell third baseman Ryan O’Leary. Lowell starter Dylan Izenman hit the next Starfires batter, Notre Dame freshman Ryan Ventrelle, to put runners on first and second. Izenman struck out the next Starfires batter for the second out. Cornell sophomore Aiden Barclay hit a ball to the Spinners’ shortstop Henriquez, who missed his throw to the first baseman, allowing all the runners to advance an extra bag, and scoring Bonior from second unearned, scoring the first Starfires run of the game. After a groundout, the inning ended with the Spinners leading, 2-1.
Fisher allowed a single but struck out three batters in the top of the fourth inning, before the Westfield bats once again went hitless in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the fifth, Fisher got a groundout and a flyout before being relieved by UMass Lowell freshman Simon Mele.
In the bottom of the inning, Josh Bryant relieved Izenman. With one out, Bonior singled to left field for the first Starfires hit of the game before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Ventrelle walked before Bridgeport senior Anthony Armenia walked to load the bases. Barclay smacked a ground-rule double to left field to score two runners and give Westfield the lead, 3-2. With runners on second and third, Brown freshman Morrie Fried hit a groundout to the Spinners’ shortstop, which brought home Armenia from third to give Westfield a 4-2 lead.
After two strong innings of relief, Mele ran into trouble in the top of the eighth. Mele walked Camilleri to start the inning before Dessureault singled to put runners on first and second. Driscoll hit a double play ball to the Starfires’ second baseman Ventrelle, who got the out at second, but Driscoll reached first safely as Camilleri advanced to third. With runners on the corners and one out, Henriquez grounded out to Starfires shortstop O’Neil, but Camilleri scored from third to put Lowell within a run. After a hitless bottom of the inning for the Starfires batters, the inning ended with Westfield leading, 4-3.
With the Starfires in desperate need of a shutdown inning, Mele was relieved by Keene State junior Nate Pirog. Pirog walked the first batter, Marco Zirpolo, before Patrick Connors flew out to centerfield. Pirog got another flyout to center for the second out. Down to the final out, O’Leary battled to see eight pitches, but took the last one for a called strike three to end the game.
Westfield ended the game with only three hits, coming from Barclay, Bonior, and O’Neil. Barclay had two RBI while Fried had one. Cam Fisher ended the day with 4.2 innings pitched, seven hits, two runs allowed, one walk, and nine strikeouts. Mele earned the win in relief, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing only two hits and a run, while walking two and striking out three. Pirog earned the save. Lowell had nine hits. Josh Bryant earned the loss for Lowell.
The Starfires will head up north to face the now-first-place Vermont Lake Monsters tomorrow, June 20th, at 6:05 pm.
