Burnett Goes Yard Twice, Owls Rally Past Washington College 10-9

VERO BEACH, Fla. – Westfield State senior Dan Burnett (Granville, Mass.) hit two of the Owls four home runs on the afternoon as Westfield scored five runs in the final three innings to rally past Washington College, 10-9 on day two of the team's spring break trip from Vero Beach, Florida on Tuesday afternoon.

The Owls are now 2-0 on their Florida swing, improving to 5-1 overall while the Shoremen drop just their third game in 11 contests, falling to 8-3. An early season trend has been the Owls offense which once again reached ten runs scored, the fifth time in six games scoring double digit runs.

A warm and blustery day gave way to a shootout between two strong offensive teams as the Owls finished the game with 12 hits, six of which went for extra bases while the Shoremen added 13 hits.

The Owls were forced to come from behind late in the game as a sixth inning single from Matt Lewis (Middletown, Del.) pushed the Shoremen lead to 9-4 midway through the frame. Westfield would chip away at the deficit while also posting zeroes on the pitching side. Antonio Scalise (Pittsfield, Mass.) barreled a sharp line drive over the left field fence to trim the deficit to four runs entering the final three innings.

Reliever Sean Shea (Longmeadow, Mass.) kept the Shoremen bats quiet in 1.2 innings worth of scoreless baseball allowing the Owls to further their comeback efforts.

In the bottom of the seventh, Westfield made their move, batting through the order to tie the game with a four-run frame. Nick Marshall (Reading, Mass.) began the inning with a single, then Burnett lofted a towering fly ball to left field which cleared the wall for his second round-tripper of the game, cutting the deficit in half.

Colin Ryan (North Chelmsford, Mass.) and John Bessette (Andover, Mass.), who both entered as substitutes earlier in the game, kept the line moving with consecutive one-out singles, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. Back-to-back walks, including a tremendous eight-pitch walk from Jonathan Toth (Granby, Mass.) led to a run scoring, making it a one-run game.

Alex Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) followed and tied the game, lining an opposite field single into left to plate Bessette as the tying run. The Shoremen would work around the remainder of the bases loaded jam, getting a deep flyout from Marshall that was caught at the track to keep the game tied at nine apiece.

The Owls bullpen continued to work efficiently as Charlie Walsh (Medfield, Mass.) worked around a leadoff walk to retire the Shoremen without allowing a run to pick up the winning decision. In the bottom half of the frame, Devin Slattery (Ware, Mass.) drew a walk, and with two outs in the inning, came in to score on a wild pitch, giving the Owls their first lead of the game since the opening frame.

Facing the middle of the Washington order, Mike Hall (Westfield, Mass.) retired the side in order, getting a sliding catch in right field from Ryan to secure the save and wrap up the win for Westfield.

Burnett got the game's scoring started in the home half of the first inning, launching a deep fly ball out to left field for his third home run of the season.

Westfield fell behind in the second inning as Washington piled on five runs in the frame, beginning with a run-scoring balk, followed by a RBI double from Brady Wozniak (Saxonburg, Pa.) to give the Shoremen a 2-1 lead.

Most of the damage in the inning was done by Will Turner (Preston, Md.) who belted a two-out, three-run home run to left to extend the lead to 5-1. Westfield has now launched 15 home runs in six games to begin the season.

Sam Palmer (Medfield, Mass.), who also got the starting nod for the Owls, connected for his fifth home run of the season with a two-run shot in the third inning. He pitched two innings as well, allowing five runs on five hits. Brayden Spurgeon (Severn, Md.) tossed 5.1 innings for Washington giving up five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and was in line for the victory until the Owls roared back in the later frames.

Westfield State will be back in action on Thursday at 10:00 A.M. as the Owls take on Monmouth, Ill. from the Jackie Robinson Complex in Vero Beach, Florida.