Owls Downed by Late Inning Coast Guard Rally

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Coast Guard first-year third baseman Luke Percifield (Pinellas Park, Fla.) belted the go-ahead run on a double to left in the eighth inning as the Bears topped Westfield State 11-8 in the home opener from Bud and Jim Hagan Field on Wednesday afternoon.

The Owls fall to 4-8 on the season while Coast Guard improves to 6-8 overall.

The contest was a back-and-forth offensive affair as both teams traded leads throughout the duration of the contest. The Bears started off the scoring in the top half of the first with Jack Steel (Medford, Mass.) grounding out to short to send home John Carroll (Yardley, Pa.).

With two down in the inning and a runner on second, Greg Boland (Acworth, Ga.) wrapped a single into right field where Robison Guerrero Baez (Dominican Republic) threw a strike to home plate to cut down Percifield at the plate to keep the game at 1-0.

Westfield answered the run scored in the top half with a tally of their own in the bottom of the frame with Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) launching a ball of the left field wall to score Baez on a run-scoring double.

Coast Guard pulled ahead again in the third inning with Parker Madden (Ruston, La.) lacing a double into the right-centerfield gap to plate Steel for a 2-1 lead. Boland stepped up to the plate and once again drove a single into right field with Baez quickly throwing the ball to Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) who managed to get out Madden in a rundown between third and home to end the inning.

The Owls would once again answer in the ensuing half inning with Burnett clobbering a solo home run to left-centerfield into the pine trees to tie the game at two runs apiece. Marshall followed by drawing a walk, then stealing second base. A wild pitch brought him to third, then he was able to score on a relatively shallow sacrifice fly from Ethan Day (Meriden, Conn.) to give the Owls their first lead of the game.

The Westfield lead was short lived as the Bears rallied to take the lead in the top of the fourth. With two runners on, Kael Godshalk (Bangor, Pa.) plated both with a two-RBI triple to left, putting Coast Guard up 4-3. A squeeze bunt from Justin Stasiak (Effort, Pa.) brought home Godshalk, capping the three-run fourth frame for the Bears.

The momentum swung back in the Owls favor in the next half inning for Westfield, mounting a four-run inning to reclaim the lead. Alex Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) hustled out an infield hit to score Devin Slattery (Ware, Mass.), then Baez registered an RBI on a sac fly to left to once again tie the contest.  

The rally continued after consecutive walks from Burnett and Marshall, setting up Day who lined a single into left for his second and third RBI of the afternoon which temporarily gave Westfield a 7-5 advantage.

In the sixth inning, the lead changed hands again with Coast Guard scrapping across three runs, two of which came home to score on a two-out error, ultimately giving the Bears an 8-7 lead midway through the sixth.

Fast forward to the bottom of the seventh and the Owls would resort to more two out hitting, this time off the bat of Martin who dunked a ball into right field to bring home Slattery and tie the game, 8-8.

Coast Guard would deliver the final blow in the eighth inning, with Percifield connecting on a two-out double to left field, driving in the go-ahead and game-winning run in Stasiak. Steel added another two-out RBI with a single to right, putting the Bears ahead 10-8 after eight innings.

Another insurance run was produced from Stasiak after drawing a run-scoring walk to score the Bears 11^th run. In the bottom half of the ninth inning, after Slattery and Faulkner both reached to begin the inning, Bears reliever Aidan Andersen (Waukesha, Wisc.) settled down to retire the final three Owls hitters, two of which came via strikeout.

Junior pitcher Michael Hall (Westfield, Mass.) got the starting nod for Westfield, tossing four innings while allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits with three strikeouts. Sean Casey (Amston, Conn.) took the loss after pitching three innings in relief, surrendering three runs.

The Bears ran out six different arms in the contest with Charles Red (Panama City, Fla.) starting the first two innings. Connor Watts (Mahopac, N.Y.) notched the winning decision out of the pen, recording four outs without giving up a run and fanning two. Andersen logged his first save of the season in the ninth.

Day and Godshalk led their respective teams with three RBI each. Burnett and Slattery were aboard four times for Westfield with both tallying a pair of hits and walks.

Westfield State will open up MASCAC play in their next game on Friday as the Owls host Fitchburg State from Hagan Field in Westfield, Mass. with first pitch at 3:30 P.M. Coast Guard will also begin conference play as the Bears host MIT in a NEWMAC contest on Saturday at noon.