Postgame fireworks, a Bullens Field attendance record, and a blowout win on Father’s Day, highlighted Westfield Starfires week three as the 2025 FCBL season is approximately 25 percent complete for all six teams.
The Starfires will enter the fourth week of play at 5-12 overall.
The week was supposed to begin on Tuesday with a two-game set against the Worcester Bravehearts on June 10. Mother Nature, however, had other plans, and due to the inclement weather on Tuesday, the game was made up as a doubleheader the following day, Wednesday, June 11. The Bravehearts showcased their power bats in the twin bill, clubbing six home runs across the two games to sweep the Starfires at Bullens.
Westfield then headed north for a game at the home of what was then the first-place Vermont Lake Monsters on Thursday, June 12. In that contest, the Lake Monsters flashed the leather several times to keep the Starfires off the scoreboard in a game which ended in a 9-1 Starfires loss.
The Starfires then returned home for a game against the Norwich Sea Unicorns on Friday, June 13. Similar to the game up in Burlington, Westfield got runners on quite frequently but were unable to do anything with them. The Sea Unicorns turned four double plays in that game to stifle many scoring opportunities and walked away with a 7-3 win at Bullens.
However, a bright spot was that the Starfires set a new Bullens Field attendance record in that game with 2,443 showing up at Bullens, nearly 2.5 times the stadium capacity. The fans also enjoyed postgame fireworks presented by Westfield Gas + Electric and Whip City Fiber.
After the Starfires lost a road game to the Nashua Silver Knights 10-3 on Saturday, June 13, they returned home for another matchup against the Sea Unicorns. The Starfires grabbed some big hits with runners in scoring position in this one and got some help from the Norwich pitching staff, who set an FCBL record by hitting eight Starfires. Westfield scored eight runs early and won in seven innings with the 10-run rule in effect after leading 12-2. This got the Starfires back in the win column after losing nine straight prior.
Offensively speaking, the Starfires are near the middle of the league with a .238 team average, but the team OBP is second to none at .381. This is due to the walks drawn with the Starfires drawing 91 bases on balls this year, way ahead of anyone else in the league thus far. They have also consistently led the FCBL in stolen bases this season, with their team total now at 38.
Evan Menzel continues to lead the Starfires in hitting. The soon-to-be Connecticut Husky has reached base in all 14 games he has appeared in, with hits in 12 of those. He recently had a seven-game hit streak snapped on Sunday in the win over the Sea Unicorns. Menzel is fifth in the league with a .348 batting average, in a tie for third with five doubles, and his 13 walks only put him behind teammate Ben Williams, who leads the way with 14.
Keene State product Jonathan Chatfield is currently third in the league with 12 walks drawn, meaning the Starfires have the top three players in walks across the FCBL. Chatfield is also leading Westfield with two home runs and 10 RBIs, both of which place him in a tie for sixth in the league.
Two other catalysts offensively have been Alex Ulloa and Anthony Ruggiero. Ulloa, who plays collegiately at Florida International University, has eight hits in 19 at-bats to consistently put himself in the lineup since his debut on June 11. He has five runs driven in across the five games he has played, including four in the victory over the Sea Unicorns on Sunday.
Ruggiero, meanwhile, plays for the Northeastern Huskies, who are coming off a 49-11 campaign where they were the CAA champs. Since joining the team on June 5, Ruggiero has hit .310 and is the only Starfire not named Evan Menzel or Jonathan Chatfield to hit a long ball this season.
Pitching has been quite the struggle for the 2024 runners-up thus far, especially during the losing streak. The staff has a 6.08 team earned run average, which is last in the league, and the .270 opponent batting average is at the bottom of the FCBL as well. Walk frequency is quite high, and strikeouts have been hard to come by for the staff. The defense has not helped either, with the Starfires second-to-last in the league with a .943 fielding percentage.
Keene State’s Nathan Pirog has been the best pitcher for the Starfires so far, leading the way with three starts, 15.1 innings pitched, and a 1.76 earned run average, putting him second in the league with the ERA.
In the win over the Sea Unicorns, Wheaton College’s Greg Strite earned the win with four innings, allowing two runs in his first start of the season. Strite holds a 1.80 earned run average across the 10 innings he has thrown so far. Dan Lang, from Connecticut Avery Point, earned the save in that game after three shutout innings.
Looking ahead into the upcoming week, the Starfires will be away from home for five straight games in what is their second-longest road trip of the season. This will begin in New Hampshire when they will match up against the Silver Knights on Tuesday, June 17.
The two teams have split their two games so far, with the home team winning each of the previous matchups. Nashua had a four-game losing streak earlier in the week, but has won two straight to put themselves at 8-8 on the season.
The Silver Knights are very average offensively, but the pitching staff has been quite impressive. They hold a 3.88 team ERA and have walked the second-fewest batters in the league. They top the FCBL with a .221 opponent batting average.
Ernie Little continues to rake for the Silver Knights and has been consistent atop the league in batting average, with it now at .460. Little is also first in the FCBL with nine stolen bases. Another bat to keep in mind is River Hart. His average is just at .183, but six of his seven base hits on the year have gone for extra bases. With three home runs and 13 driven in, Hart is third in the league in both those categories. He also went 2-for-4 with a long ball and five RBIs in the last matchup with the Starfires.
On the bump, Andrew Chenevert is only one of two pitchers in the league with three wins already. Most recently was he started against the Starfires, in which Westfield managed only one run against him in five innings.
On Wednesday, June 18, Westfield will head to Worcester for a clash with the Bravehearts. Worcester had a perfect week in week three and holds a whopping 10-game win streak, getting to 10-4 on the season to lead the standings by 2.5 games over the Lake Monsters. The Bravehearts are 2-0 versus the Starfires this season with the aforementioned twin bill sweep.
Worcester offensively is first in team OPS of .770, nearly .100 points higher than the second-best team, but what stands out is the power. The Bravehearts have socked 15 home runs thus far, three times as many as any other team, and just under four times what the Starfires have. The is not at the expense of average or putting the ball in play either, as Worcester is second in team average at .261 and has struck out the second-fewest times of all teams as well.
The pitching has also been stellar, with a 3.92 ERA and a .226 opponent batting average. The Bravehearts staff has also only walked 53 batters thus far, which is by far the best in the league. To top it off, only averaging one error per game is an FCBL best.
At the center of the lineup is 6’8”, 260 lb Jackson Marshall. Marshall is atop the league with five longballs and second with 17 runs driven in. He hits .345 as well, putting him top five in that regard, too. Marshall was 3-for-6 with a couple of moonshots against the Starfires in those two games. Another big bat is Chris Mondesir. He is arguably the most complete leader in the league with a .333 average, three home runs, nine driven in, and eight stolen bases. This puts him in the top six across the league in all categories.
After the game versus Worcester, the Starfires will head down to Connecticut for a single game against the Sea Unicorns. Norwich is the only team that the Starfires own a winning record over thus far, going 3-2 against the defending champions.
The Sea Unicorns are only one game below .500 at 7-8, although the team statistics make it seem much worse than that. They are dead last with a .216 team average at the dish and second lowest in team OPS. The pitching staff hasn’t found its groove yet either, posting a 5.37 earned run average with the fewest strikeouts in the league and second from the bottom with a .254 opponent average. Fielding percentage is also at the rock bottom of the FCBL at .940.
Kenny Noe for the Sea Unicorns is 11-for-28 on the year, but he has been a thorn in the side of the Starfires with seven of these hits against Westfield. Both his home runs and all five of his RBIs have also come against Starfires pitching.
To round out the road trip, the Starfires will head to Centennial Field to play two against the Lake Monsters. Vermont has been leading the league for most of the season, up until they got swept by the Bravehearts in a three-game series in Worcester. This puts them at 10-7 on the season, although the Lake Monsters are 4-0 against the Starfires so far.
Vermont is leading the league in team batting average with a .268 mark. Although the power numbers aren’t as high as Worcester’s, they do lead the league with 27 doubles, are first in total hits, and score 5.5 runs per game. The pitching staff has the lowest team ERA in the league at 3.79, although they have surrendered the most walks out of anybody.
Sam Cavossa with a batting average of .426, Shaun McMillan at .404, and Bryan Richman at .351 are the second, third, and fourth best hitters by average in the FCBL, respectively. Cavossa is 9-for-20 against Starfires pitching thus far, while McMillan has clubbed four home runs and owns an FCBL-best 19 RBIs.
The Lake Monsters also have the league’s best pitcher thus far, John Delgado. In Vermont’s 9-1 victory over the Starfires last week, Delgado fanned seven hitters in five innings, allowing just one hit to get the win. He has a flawless ERA of zero with 14 innings under his belt while also leading the league with 17 strikeouts.
Interestingly, in the game versus the Starfires when he pitched, Westfield became the first and only team to score a run on him, although the run was unearned due to an error, hence the perfect earned run average.
Then, on Sunday, June 22 the Starfires will host their Third Annual Starfires Summer Classic presented by Wellpoint at the Walker Memorial Grandstand at Forest Park. Admission is free for the 4:00 p.m. contest against the Worcester Bravehearts, and the team will host a free youth baseball clinic at 2:30 p.m. The Frank Manzi Band will perform pregame as well.
Tickets to all Starfires home games, can be purchased at www.westfieldstarfires.com.
