WESTFIELD, Mass. – Nolan Florence (Chicopee, Mass.) and Robison Guerrero Baez (Dominican Republic) combined for seven hits and six RBI as Westfield State tallied a season-high 20 runs as part of a 20-1 thrashing over MCLA in a MASCAC game from Hagan Field on Monday afternoon.
Sean McNamara (Lowell, Mass.) struck out seven over 5.2 innings, picking up his third victory of the season as the Owls improve to 18-9 on the year and 7-3 in the MASCAC. Chris Vargas (Bellerose, N.Y.) collected two hits and an RBI for the Trailblazers, who fall to 5-16 overall and 2-6 in the conference.
Florence was a double shy of the cycle, picking up three hits and three RBI. Baez collected four hits and three RBI. Justin Neidel (Attleboro, Mass.), Devin Slattery (Ware, Mass.), John Bessette (Andover, Mass.) and Jackson Shelsy (Lanesborough, Mass.) all picked up two RBI for Westfield. The two RBI from Shelsy were the first two of his collegiate career.
The Owls slugged their way to victory on Patriot's Day, totaling eight extra base hits, which included two triples and a home run.
After a scoreless first inning, a combination of timely hitting and errors from MCLA led to a seven-run second inning with Florence belting a two-run triple to cap the scoring.
In the third inning, four extra base hits led to six additional runs scoring in the frame as Florence once again completed the scoring in the inning with a no-doubt, two-run blast to leftfield, putting the game out of reach after three full innings. The Owls sent a total of 21 runners to the plate in the second and third innings combined, batting around the order in both.
The Trailblazers got in the scoring column in the sixth inning with Vargas launching a double to left-centerfield to score Jayco Pena (Salem, Mass.).
The Owls would eventually increase their run total in the sixth and seventh innings with Bessette doubling home two in the sixth, then a Shelsy single up the middle in the seventh knocked in Westfield's 20th run on the afternoon.
McNamara's final line amounted to one run over 5.2 innings, allowing two hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.
Joshua Bissaillon (East Greenbush, N.Y.) got the start for MCLA, taking the loss after pitching 2.1 innings. Juan Zamora-Arenas (Medellin, Colombia) saw his first game action of the season, tossing a scoreless ninth inning to wrap up the game.
Westfield State will play their fourth game in three days tomorrow as the Owls face St. Joseph's (Conn.) at 10:30 A.M. from Dunkin' Park in Hartford, Conn., home of the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.