Mills homers for sixth time in Starfires’ midweek matchup with Bravehearts

WESTFIELD – Northwestern product Griffin Mills hit his sixth home run and notched his 18th and 19th RBIs, but the Worcester Bravehearts avenged a 13-3 mercy-rule loss to the Starfires on July 13 by topping Westfield 17-6 in seven innings on Wednesday at Bullens Field.

The Starfires drop to 10-30-2 on the year, while the Bravehearts, who have now won eight of their last nine, get to 31-11-0 on the season.

The Bravehearts’ offensive prowess was on full display early at Bullens. The Starfires began the first inning with a strikeout, but then Worcester loaded the bases. Starting pitcher Connor Niemiec then made a nice play on a comebacker to the mound and forced out the lead runner at home, but was not out of the inning yet.

With two outs, the Bravehearts reached with four straight batters on three singles and a hit-by-pitch. Worcester also stole six bags in the frame and ended its first at-bats up 7-0 on the Starfires.

Westfield answered in the home half with Boston College’s John Mass reaching on an error. Mills proved once again why he has been one of the most dangerous hitters around the league, smashing an opposite-field blast for a two-run home run, drawing the Starfires a little closer at 7-2.

The Bravehearts continued to pile on the runs, though, scoring one in the second, two in the third, and three in the fifth.

Worcester starting pitcher Damien Carter shut down the Starfires’ order after the homer by Mills, only allowing a couple of baserunners in the second on two errors. The ESCU product went on to set the side down in order in both the third and fourth innings.

Westfield, trailing 13-2, got rolling to begin the fifth after a leadoff single from Minnesota’s Jack Taxdahl, followed by a walk from Kansas State Wildcat-to-be Jack Quetschenbach. However, a double play groundout left only a runner on third with two gone, and then a flyball left the Starfires without a run in the inning.

The Bravehearts put up a four-spot in the top of the sixth to get up by 15, but the Starfires responded with their best inning of the day in the home half of the inning.

Mass opened things up with a triple, then after his Boston College teammate Ben Williams walked, the duo executed a double steal to score Mass. Connecticut Husky Evan Menzel then had an RBI two-base hit, Northeastern’s Cooper Tarantino drove in the third run of the inning with a single, then after another Worcester error, Columbia product Jimmy Chadwell had an RBI single to give the Starfires four runs on four hits, making the game 17-6.

The Bravehearts were held off the scoreboard in the seventh, but the Starfires could not extend the game in the bottom after a couple of strikeouts ended it in the seventh with Worcester ahead by 11 runs.

After they ran over the New Britain Bees 15-5 Tuesday, Worcester has now scored 32 runs in their past two games, both of which were only seven innings long. The 17 runs Wednesday are a season high across the FCBL.

Mills’s round tripper in the first gets the New Jersey native to six homers on the season, good for third in the league, just behind Jackson Marshall of Worcester and Shaun McMillan of Vermont. However, when discussing home run frequency, McMillan goes yard once every 17.8 at-bats, Marshall once per 17 at-bats, while Mills, with his significantly fewer plate appearances, hits a home run one in every 13.8 at-bats.

Incoming freshman to William and Mary, Connor Jernigan, went one scoreless inning in relief and has now allowed just two earned runs in his 10 1/3 innings of work for an ERA of 1.74.

The Starfires will head up to Burlington for a short two-game series against the Vermont Lake Monsters beginning Thursday at 6:35 p.m.

Tickets to all Westfield Starfires home games can be purchased at www.westfieldstarfires.com.