Worcester, MA- The Lancers (9-13, 4-2) took on The Westfield State Owls (9-12, 4-2) for a big MASCAC matchup on a beautiful Friday afternoon at Kevin D. Lyons Diamond. Both teams are tied in MASCAC standing entering play.
Starting on the bump today is senior Ben Smith (Bourne, MA)(1-2). Smith enters the game today with 26 strikeouts, 9.75 K/9, and an ERA of 3.75. On the mound for the Owls is junior Ryan Lapierre (Pittsfield, MA). Lapierre comes into today's matchup with a MASCAC second-best opponent's batting average of 2.36, in first is the Lancers senior Cole Glassburn (Hopkinton, MA).
Game Notes:
In their last eight games, the Lancers have a winning record of 5-3. Leading Worcester in hits on the season heading into today's matchup is sophomore Tyler Smith (Leominster, MA) with 26 while being tied for third in the MASCAC with 11 stolen bases. Smith also leads the team with a .342 batting average. Senior Alex Sorenti-Burns (Sagamore Beach, MA) has a team-high 22 RBIs with a team-high 14 BBs showing off his plate discipline. Sorenti-Burns adds a team-leading 0.965 OPS with three home runs and three doubles. For the Westfield Owls, sophomore Nick Marshall (Reading, MA) has been phenomenal as he comes to Worcester with a MASCAC-leading nine home runs and is second in MASCAC with 29 RBIs. He looks to be the difference maker for the Owls.
Game Recap:
FINAL: Lancers 3, Westfield State 12
It was a rough top of the for the Lancers as they recorded two errors giving the Owls a 1-0 lead. Junior Dan Burnett (Granville, MA) followed up with a man on second and launched a home run to left field making the score 3-0. Junior Nolan Florence (Chicopee, MA) would step to the plate with men on first and second and hit a double off of the left field wall bringing the score to 4-0 Owls in the first. Smith would hit a batter with the bases loaded making it 5-0 Owls. With the shaky start, Smith was able to regain his composure and get a strikeout, limiting Westfield to what could have been a bigger inning for the Owls. The Lancers weren't able to get anything going besides a walk from Sorenti-Burns that didn't lead to anything.
Smith would once again find himself in trouble in the top of the second with bases loaded and one out. A bloop hit into no man's land on the left field line that just squeaked in fair led to a run making it a 6-0 ballgame. With the bases loaded again, a hit to left field would score one making it 7-0. A great play by Zack Roberts and his arm saved an out on the same play as he gunned out a runner at home to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning, sophomore Anthony Iamarone (Providence, RI) led off the Worcester with a single. Senior Chris Ausiello (Tyngsboro, MA) hit a single to advance Iamarone to third. Ausiello then would steal second scoring Iamarone off of an errant throw by Westfield's catcher. Ausiello would try to swipe his second bag going to third and another bad throw by the Owl's catcher would end up in left field scoring him and making it 7-2 Owls. Senior Zack Roberts (Northbridge, MA) hit a ball off of the third base bag to bring him to second for a double
Smith's day would end in the third as he left runners on first and second with one out as freshman Colin Ensminger (Reading, MA) came in for relief. Ensminger came in and shut the Owls down as he got Smith off the hook by getting Worcester out of the jam. In the bottom of the third, the Lancers would get one back with a solo shot by Iamarone getting him his second hit of the day, the score now 7-3 Owls.
Ensminger would also find himself in a hole with men on first and second with one out. Third basemen junior Tom Halliwell (Leominster, MA) would get a force out at third on a hard ball hit to him resulting in men on first and second with two outs. Ensminger locked into strikeout junior Sean Clark (Dudley, MA) to bring the top half of the inning to an end. Freshman Joe Auger (Lowell, MA) led the inning off with a walk, but Worcester was not able to make anything happen with the lead-off man getting on.
As feared, in the bottom of the fifth Marshall would get the best of Ensminger with a two-run home run into deep center field giving Westfield a 9-3 lead. Freshman Robison Guerrero Baez (Dominican Republic) would set up the home run blast with a single. The bottom of the fifth wouldn't produce much offense for Worcester with Glassburn getting the Lancers to go down 1-2-3.
Ensminger caught a groove as his stuff was moving and the Owls couldn't touch him in the top of the sixth inning. He countered Glassburn's inning with a 1-2-3 of his own with two nasty back-to-back strikeouts showing off his movement with both punchout pitches dancing across the plate. Iamarone reached first on an error by the third baseman but was caught stealing at second. Sophomore Xavier Quezada (Providence, MA) walked but that would be the last of Worcester's offensive attack in the bottom of the sixth.
In the top of the seventh, Ensminger had runners on first and second with no outs and Marshall would find himself at the plate already with one home run adding to his MASCAC leading total. Marshall hit a high long ball to center field which would be caught for the first out of the inning. Runners now on second and third from tagging up, graduate student Ethan Day (Meriden, CT) doubled scoring both runners bringing the score to 11-3 Westfield State. The Lancers threatened in the bottom of the seventh with a Roberts single and moved to second on a sac groundout from Smith. Freshman Nathan Thurber (Framingham, MA) came off the bench to pinch run for Roberts on second base. Halliwell walked on four balls giving the Lancers men on first and second with one out. Lancers would leave both runners on base to end the inning.
Freshman Zachary Scotti (Warwick, RI) found himself with the ball, replacing Ensminger. The Freshman walked a man who would end up on second from a stolen base. Scotti punched out sophomore Justin Neidel (Attleboro, MA) to end the inning with a man on second. Sophomore Colton Vasseur (Colchester, Conn) had his number called to replace Lapierre who left the game with 12 strikeouts and three earned runs. Iamarone welcomed Vasseur with a rope that hit the centerfielder's glove landing him on second base for his third hit of the game. The Lancer lineup could not drive him home leaving him stranded on second.
Marshall showed his power again at the top of the ninth, launching a ball to right field for a ground-rule double with his ball getting caught in the fence. He'd be brought home on a single by Burnett for an RBI making it a 12-3 ball game. The Lancers were not able to get much going in the bottom of the ninth as they went without a hit or walk and no chances of a miracle comeback.
The Lancers record moves to (9-14)(4-3) with Westfield State improving to (10-12)(5-2). Worcester State will travel to Westfield State for a double-header MASCAC rematch of today's game tomorrow April 15 with the first pitch at 1 pm.