The month of August is in full swing and with college classes commencing in less than a month, the Westfield Starfires head into their final week and last five games of the 2025 FCBL season.
Heading into their last week, the Starfires offense is in the top half of the league in several categories including a .249 team batting average, .690 OPS, and 19 team home runs. Westfield has accumulated 247 walks on the year which is second-best across the league.
The bats are led by Northeastern Husky Anthony Ruggiero with the Mendon, Massachusetts native becoming one of the top sluggers in the league over the past few weeks. Ruggiero is a tough out with his .287 average, six home runs, and 29 RBIs. The home runs are in a tie for third in the futures league with his teammate, Griffin Mills, and the runs driven in put him in sole possession of third place in the league.
Evan Menzel, the former Maine Black Bear who will be playing for the Connecticut Huskies this upcoming spring, has been a reliable mainstay in the lineup. He is currently leading the FCBL with 30 walks and is first on the team with 163 at-bats. Menzel’s .406 OBP put him in one of the top spots in that category as well. After a rough stretch in mid-July, the Coventry, Connecticut native has hits in 12 of his past 13 games and has a .282 batting average heading into the final week.
Entering Week 11, the Starfires have a new franchise leader in hits: third-year Starfire Josh Frometa. In the Starfires win at Nashua on Saturday, August 2, Frometa logged an infield single for his 71st career hit, passing original Starfire Danny Crossen. On that single, the American International product also tied a franchise record with 45 RBIs, and will just need one more to further etch his name into another Starfires franchise record.
Finally, Griffin Enis, the 2025 FCBL Home Run Derby Champion, was responsible for Westfield’s 5-4 win over the Norwich Sea Unicorns on Sunday, August 3 after he knocked off Bryce Detwiler and the Starfires finished Week 10 with back-to-back wins.
Enis, who is the 68th ranked player in the Class of 2025 by Perfect Game, has been a great addition to the Starfires outfield. Since making his debut on July 4, the future Virginia Cavalier has played nearly every day with a .281 average and 25 hits in 23 games. On the season, he also has 13 runs batted in and is eight for nine on stolen bases.
While it has been challenging for the Westfield pitching staff this season, the Starfires have been much improved on the mound lately, allowing just seven runs over the past three games. In the Saturday win at Nashua, the Starfires had by far their best pitching performance of the season, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning and the Silver Knights only mustered one hit as Westfield won 4-0 for their second shutout of the season.
In that game, Nolan Geisler got the start and was lights out for five innings, allowing no hits, two walks, and punching out six en route to his first win of the season. Koby Seelig, Traigh Skiffington, Thomas Pirog, and John Mass all combined for the final four innings in the shutout victory.
Skiffington, the incoming freshman at Connecticut, has had a great summer in his first collegiate-level action. He has 11.2 innings of relief under his belt with just four earned runs for a 3.08 ERA.
Boston College product and two-way player Mass has come a long way on the mound after allowing eight earned runs across two appearances while only recording three outs early in the season. In his last seven innings, the native of the Ocean State has yielded just one earned run and his fanning batters at an absurd rate as well with 15 of his 21 recorded outs by way of the strikeout.
After four scoreless relief innings in the Nashua win, the Starfire’s bullpen followed that up with six innings of no earned runs in the 5-4 home run derby victory over the Norwich Sea Unicorns. Westfield relievers have not allowed an earned run in 12 consecutive innings.
The Starfires have five more games on the season with the first three being road games. This week begins with a match against the Worcester Bravehearts at Fitton Field on Tuesday, August 5.
The Bravehearts have been a force to be reckoned with in the Futures League and are leading the league in most every single batting and pitching category. They hit for power, average, don’t strike out and their 162 stolen bases are by far and away the most in the league. On the bump, they have the lowest team ERA, lowest opponent batting average, and have surrendered the fewest walks while striking out the second most.
Worcester currently sits at 40-15-0 with a three-game lead over the Vermont Lake Monsters for second place in the league. However, they are only 3-3 against the Starfires at Fitton Field this season.
Jackson Marshall is the main source of power for Worcester with the 2024 FCBL Home Run Derby winner hitting .309 with eight home runs and 42 RBIs. The top pitcher for the Bravehearts is Jake LeFrancois who is 5-1 with a 2.94 earned run average. However, in his only start against the Starfires, the UMass-Lowell Riverhawk was tagged with six runs in three innings.
After the Bravehearts, on Wednesday, August 6 the Starfires will head to New Britain to play against the Bees.
New Britain got off to a slow start to begin the season, but have played roughly .500 baseball for the past month, and currently sit at 25-30-1 in the fourth and final playoff spot. The Starfires and Bees have played each other evenly recently, with each team claiming victory twice in their past four games.
The Bees have been at the bottom of the Futures League in most offensive categories the entire season, including a .231 team batting average, and .622 team OPS. They do not draw many walks, and also strike out at a high rate.
To make up for this though, their pitching is slightly above average with their 4.37 ERA and their .242 opponent average both placing third in the league. In addition to this, they do not give opponents extra outs as their fielding is second to none in both percentage and number of errors.
Colin Crowley is the top bat for the Bees with his .314 batting average being one of the best in the league. He is also tied with five other players with three triples on the season and his 25 walks rank among the league’s best as well.
Following that game, the Starfires will play their final road game of the season against the Nashua Silver Knights on Thursday, August 7.
Back on July 13, the Silver Knights were in third place with a 22-19-0 record and appeared to be in a good position to make the playoffs. Since that time though, the Silver Knights have only won a single game in 14 tries and now sit at 23-32-0, five points behind New Britain for a playoff spot.
Their once well-respected offense has fallen off a cliff with Nashua failing to score more than three runs in 10 of their prior 14 games. The pitching however, has remained very solid with a 4.30 team earned run average that is only behind Worcester. They do not walk batters at a high clip and the strikeout numbers are decent.
Nashua shortstop Patrick Shrake is the current average leader in the FCBL at .347 although the Starfires have held the Division III product out of Colby College in check as Shrake is just 2-for-13 against Westfield pitching in his last three games. He also is second in the league committing 13 errors in the field.
American International product Cole Patterson is the league leader with 23 stolen bases and while his .241 average is nothing special, he has drawn 24 walks to give himself a .366 OBP and make him a major threat on the bases.
For both the penultimate home game, and overall game for the Starfires, they will play the Silver Knights at Billy Bullens Field. On this day, the Starfires will sign Jonathan Papelbon to a one-day contract. Papelbon, a 2007 World Series Champion, six-time All-Star, and the all-time saves leader for both the Red Sox and the Phillies will throw out a ceremonial first pitch and potentially even come into the game in his true closer fashion.
In addition to his, it is also Scout Camp Out Night with a Boy Scout overnight camp at Bullens Field.
And finally, to wrap up the 2025 season, the Starfires will host the Norwich Sea Unicorns on Saturday, August 9. Of course, it wouldn’t be a complete season if the Starfires didn’t celebrate the best fans in baseball and the game will be Fan Appreciation Night at Bullens Field.
In the final game of the season, the Starfires will also raise Awareness on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Out of Darkness Community Walks. There will be a 50/50 raffle to help those struggling with mental health challenges, ahead of when the AFSP hosts the Greater Springfield Walk to Prevent Suicide on October 25th.
After sweeping the Starfires back on Sunday, July 27, the Sea Unicorns were rolling with a six-game winning streak and a 26-24-0 record. However, Norwich has not won a game since and has now lost six in a row for a 26-29-1 mark. The Sea Unicorns were swept in a four-game series in Vermont, lost a home game to the Bravehearts, and most recently fell in the home run derby to the Starfires.
The offense for Norwich is fairly average, although the pitching and defense is not. The Sea Unicorns have the second highest team ERA at 4.66 while giving up five or more runs in each of their last seven games. The fielding is last in the futures league with 109 errors and a .944 fielding percentage.
Matt Wootton has been one of the best arms in the league over the course of the season, and while he has come down to Earth recently, the ECSU product still boasts a 5-1 record with a 2.70 ERA. His 47 strikeouts are second in the league, and he is also just one of five pitchers to eclipse five wins on the season.
To recap, while there are only two more home games for the Starfires on the season, there is plenty to look forward to at Bullens Field from Jonathan Papelbon on Friday, August 8, to Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday, August 9.
Tickets to the final two games at Bullens Field can be found at www.westfieldstarfires.com and registration for the AFSP Community Walk in Springfield can be found at https://afspwalks.donordrive.com/SpringfieldMA.
