MILTON,Mass. – Westfield State University rallied for two runs in the tenth inning to defeat Curry College 7-5 in non-conference play Sunday afternoon at D. Forbes Will Field. With the win the Owls improve to 20-16 while the Colonels fall to 16-22.
Westfield jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when senior Josh Blair (Westfield, MA) doubled to right field scoring freshmen Dan Rokitowski (Wappingers Falls, NY) from third base. With two outs in the second inning freshmen Jeremy Tanguay (Huntington, MA) would double to leftfield scoring junior Alex Cloutier (Westford, MA) from second to make the score 2-0.
In the bottom of the inning the Colonels would get on the board when freshmen Derek Pizarro (Cambridge, MA) would score to make it a one run game.
In the third inning the Owls would come right back with a run when junior Andrew Medeiros (Acushnet, MA) singled up the middle driving in leftfielder Blair. In the fourth the Owls would increase their lead to 5-1 beginning when first basemen Rokitowski singled to right field scoring sophomore Kyle Colesanti (Mount Kisco, NY) and third basemen Tanguay would later score from third after a wild pitch.
Curry sophomore Matt O'Neill (Milton, MA) would start the sixth inning with a single to center field and would move to second after a single by freshmen Matt Warren (Wilbraham, MA). Both O’Neill and Warren would steal a base and O’Neill would score from third after an error to make the score 5-2.
In the bottom of the seventh the Colonels would tack on three more runs to tie the game with sophomore Cam Despres (Sterling, MA), O’Neill and freshmen Thomas Fitzpatrick (South Boston, MA)all scoring.
The game would remain tied until the top of the tenth inning when junior Kevin Greene (Worcester, MA) scored on a passed ball followed by a sacrifice bunt from second basemen Colesanti to score right fielder Cloutier allowing the Owls to retake the lead at 7-5.
Westfield senior Curt Everett (Lexington, MA) would come in and close the game recording his second save of the season. Sophomore Tommy Carroll (Shelton, CT) would get the win pitching 2 1/3 innings giving up zero runs on three hits while walking one and striking out two to improve his record to 5-3.
O’Neill (0-3) would take the loss for the Colonels pitching three innings giving up two runs (both unearned) on two hits and striking out two.
The Colonels will host Roger Williams on Thursday to open the double-elimination Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament at 3 p.m. The Owls will also play on Thursday hosting Framingham State in the MASCAC Tournament at 3 p.m.
