Northeastern product Anthony Ruggiero tallied a career-high four hits, finishing a triple shy of the cycle, and the Westfield Starfires notched a season-high 18 hits in an 8-1 stomping over the New Britain Bees on Friday, July 25 at Bullens Field.
The Starfires improve to 12-34-2 on the season after winning two of their past three games versus New Britain. With the Silver Knights also losing on the night, the Bees did not lose ground in the standings and are still tied with Nashua for the final playoff spot with a 22-27-0 mark.
New Britain scored first in this matchup with a first-inning run off two free passes, followed by a run-scoring single.
In the home half of the first frame, Northwestern’s Griffin Mills got on with a base hit, sending Anthony Ruggiero to the dish with one away.
The Northeastern product, Ruggiero, grinded out an at-bat against All-Star game starting pitcher Garret Garbinski. After six foul balls, the Mendon, Massachusetts native launched one over the right field fence for his fifth long ball of the season, and the Starfires grabbed a 2-1 lead on what were Garbinski’s first runs surrendered all season in over 20 innings of work.
Westfield continued to hit, getting multiple base knocks in the second and third, but it was not until the fifth inning that they picked up some insurance.
Mills began the fifth with a double over the head of left fielder Brennan Staubley. Then, Ruggiero hit a groundball to the right side to move him over, which allowed Virginia’s Griffin Enis to send Mills home with a sacrifice fly, and the Starfires were up a pair with four innings left to play.
After surrendering a run in the top of the first, Starfires starter Greg Strite was on his A-game, not allowing a single hit until the fifth inning.
The Bees went on to load the bases with one away in the fifth inning after two hits and a walk. However, Columbia’s Justin Bowman entered in relief and got the job done by fanning the next two batters and preserving the 3-1 score.
While it was still a competitive game entering the bottom of the seventh, that completely changed after said half-inning.
Menzel began the inning with a double, then came around to score after Mills laid down a bunt single, and the duo executed a double steal to score the fourth Westfield run of the game. The next three runs came scored on RBI doubles from Ruggiero, Enis, and Iona’s Cole Silvia.
When it was all said and done, the Starfires logged four doubles and four runs in the frame and blew the game open, up a half-dozen 7-1.
Bowman picked up right where he left off in the sixth by mowing through the Bees in the seventh and eighth. The Georgia native made the Bees look silly after striking out the side in order in the seventh, then he pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, adding another strikeout to his total.
The Starfires scored once more in the eighth after Menzel, Ruggiero, and Enis all singled to cement the margin up to seven runs.
Westfield handed the ball to All-Star two-way player John Mass to seal the deal in the ninth, and he did not disappoint. The Boston College product struck out all three batters he faced to send the Bees packing as the Starfires picked up the Friday night victory.
Ruggiero is now 8-for-17 in his last four games, and with the home run and three RBIs, he has placed himself fourth in the league in home runs with five, and is tied for third in RBIs with 25.
Enis had a season-high four hits and three RBIs while Mills and Menzel each had a double and two singles for three hits apiece. Those two also scored five of the eight runs for Westfield. The 18 base hits for Westfield are a season high, beating the previous high of 16 achieved in a 15-5 win over the Norwich Sea Unicorns on day two of the season back on May 29.
Strite got the win on the mound, pitching five innings with four hits, one run, and five punchouts. Since July 1, the Wheaton College product has not allowed more than one earned run in each of his three appearances, lowering his ERA from 5.75 to 3.72 in that span.
Bowman finished three innings, allowing just one walk as his only baserunner while also getting a career high six strikeouts. Mass sealed the deal by pitching a scoreless ninth inning, and the Starfires retired the final 11 batters to step to the plate for New Britain.
The Starfires will stick around for a home matchup against the struggling Nashua Silver Knights on Saturday, July 26, at 6:30 p.m.
