MCLA Plays Tough, Comes up Short
Westfield and MCLA traded runs in the opener. Both teams scored a run in the first inning (MCLA was the designated home team). Josh Blair’s RBI double gave the Owls a 2-1 lead, but MCLA scored in the bottom of the third on solo home run by Osiris Mendez.
WESTFIELD, Mass. –Westfield State University captured the Massachusetts State Collegiate Conference (MASCAC) regular season baseball championship by sweeping MCLA, 5-3, 8-3, on Tuesday, April 26.
Under the guidance of veteran coach Ray Arra, the Owls captured their fourth MASCAC regular season championship in the past five years. Westfield is 18-6 overall and 11-1 in the MASCAC with two conference games remaining, a Senior Day twinbill scheduled for Saturday, April 30, when it hosts Fitchburg State.
Westfield will host the four-team MASCAC postseason tournament on May 5-7-8.
The Owls again received steady pitching defense (1 error in two games) in posting their doubleheader sweep of the Trailblazers. The opener went an extra frame as the Owls prevailed, 5-3 in eight innings. In the nightcap. Westfield snapped a 1-1 deadlock by scoring three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, with the big blow a three-run homer by Kevin Greene.
Westfield and MCLA traded runs in the opener. Both teams scored a run in the first inning (MCLA was the designated home team). Josh Blair's RBI double gave the Owls a 2-1 lead, but MCLA scored in the bottom of the third on solo home run by Osiris Mendez.
Westfield manufactured a run in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. Pete Hogan led off with a walk and Greene dropped a bunt single. Medeiros sacrificed the runners to second and third and Alex Cloutier plated a run with a sacrifice fly.
MCLA tied the score in the bottom of the sixth. Rick Massey drew a two-out walk and Joe Parillo pounded an RBI double to right-center.
In the eight, the Owls scored two runs on one hit and two errors. Grillo led off with a walk and Hogan was hit by a pitch. Medeiros then delivered the game-winning hit, an RBI single to centerfield. Grillo scored an insurance run when Tim Heintz reached safely on a throwing error.
Westfield out-hit MCLA, 11-7. Blair was 3 for 4 with a double and Heintz was 3 for 4. Jeff Ackerman was 2 for 3. Paul Procopio was the only player with multiple hits for the Trailblazers; he was 2 for 3.
Curt Everett, the third on four Westfield pitchers, was credited with the victory and Connor Buckley pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for the save. Starter Sean Keane pitched four and a third innings, allowed six hits and four walks and fanning two.
In the second game, Aaron Messier pitched four and two-thirds innings for the victory, leaving the game with a 7-3 lead. He allowed seven hits and three walks and whiffed three.
Westfield scored three runs on three hits and two walks to take a 4-1 fourth-inning lead. Grillo had an RBI sacrifice bunt to make it 2-1 and Medeiros and Blair followed with RBI singles.
Greene delivered his big blow in the fifth, a three-run homer over the scoreboard in rightfield that gave Westfield a 7-1 lead.
Westfield also out-hit MCLA, 11-7, in the second game. Medeiros was 3 for 4 with an RBI and two stolen bases and Matt Kelly was 3 for 3 with two runs scored. Greene was 2 for 4.
Parillo was 3 for 4 with an RBI and Procopio was 2 for 2 with a double and RBI.
