WESTFIELD – Five Westfield players had multiple hits, led by Keene State Owl Jonathan Chatfield, who was 3-for-4 with an RBI, but the Starfires fell to the Worcester Bravehearts 9-8 on late Thursday at Bullens Field in a game where the teams combined for 26 hits and nine errors.
The loss brings the Starfires’ record to 7-18. The Bravehearts leapfrog the Vermont Lake Monsters as the league’s top team, moving to 17-8 on the year, owning a half-game lead over Vermont.
Both teams found the scoring column in the first inning, with Worcester beginning the night with a walk and two singles to score the game’s first run.
Meanwhile, for the Starfires, American International product Josh Frometa got on base with a single, advanced all the way to third on a wild pitch, then scored on an RBI groundout from Iona Gael Cole Silvia.
The Starfires were not done yet, as a pair of singles from Connecticut Husky Evan Menzel and Chatfield. Then, a passed ball moved the runners up a base, and a wild pitch gave Menzel a ride home as the Starfires ended the first inning ahead 2-1.
The top of the order for the Starfires got it done again in the third, starting with Frometa reaching on a single. Silvia was next up and the Wilton, Connecticut native laid down a bunt right in front of home plate. The throw down to first sailed six feet above the first basemen’s head, which put Silvia at second and Frometa at third.
The Starfires took advantage of the error by with another run-scoring ground out, this one from Boston College Eagle John Mass.
This was only the beginning of a disastrous inning for the Bravehearts’ pitching staff. Westfield’s next four batters reached with a walk from Menzel, an RBI single from Chatfield, a base hit from North Florida’s Seth Alford, and finally, Kansas State’s Jack Quetschenbach getting in on the fun with a single that sent two runners bounding for the plate for a 6-1 Starfires lead.
Worcester chipped into the lead in the next at-bats in the top of the fourth. The traffic on the bases started with an error, then the Bravehearts got a single, and a two-run double off the wall from Kaleb Woodward to cut the Starfires’ lead to 6-3.
The Bravehearts eventually rallied back with another run in the fifth, then in the sixth, scoring their fifth run on a successful safety squeeze, then tying the game on a wild pitch. However, Starfires reliever and future Penn Quaker Kai Nee struck out two Bravehearts with the winning run on third and one out, but not before Worcester scored their fifth unanswered run to tie the contest at 6-6.
In the sixth, the Starfires got their first runner on since the third with a single from Ohio Bobcat Alex Benevento. Brady Laviolette, from Ohio University, then reached with a walk, which was followed by a base hit up the middle from Silvia, scoring Benevento. Mass then got into the hit column with a single into center field to score the eighth run of the game, and just like that, the Starfires had their lead back, up 8-6.
The Bravehearts wasted no time scoring in the seventh, loading the bases and then getting a two-run double from Henry Digiorgio as the slugfest continued with the two teams tied at 8.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Bravehearts got three runners on base with one out after an error and two walks, forcing a pitching change from Paul Bonfiglio and the Starfires.
The Westfield State Owl Sean McNamara came into the game and gave the Starfires just what they needed. The rising junior out of Lowell brought Jackson Kraemer to his knees as Kraemer swung and missed on a 1-2 high fastball for a strikeout. Then, McNamara got Mason Clark to fan on two straight fastballs before freezing him on strike three, and the game remained tied at 8.
The intensity cranked up even more at the bottom of the eighth, when it was the Starfires’ turn to juice the bases with one out. Despite this, the Bravehearts got a strikeout and then a groundball to third to head into the ninth still tied.
The ninth inning was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the Starfires as Worcester scored off a single, a wild pitch to move the runner to second, and then another single to right by Woodward for a 9-8 lead, their first time ahead since the first inning.
After a strikeout began the bottom of the ninth, the next three Starfires reached base with a Benevento single, an error from the Bravehearts’ third baseman to put Laviolette at first, and a Frometa walk, and the Starfires were in business with the bases loaded and one out for the second straight inning.
But a taken strike three and a foul popout ended the game as the Bravehearts escaped by the skin of their teeth in Westfield.
Eight Starfires got into the hit column in the game, with all nine spots in the order reaching base at least once. Frometa, Mass, Silvia, and Benevento all had two hits on the day, with Mass and Silvia registering two runs driven in. Quetschenbach also had a two-RBI night of his own.
The Starfires will hit the road June 27 for a matchup with the Norwich Sea Unicorns down in Connecticut. The game is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the game, and all Starfires home games, are available at www.westfieldstarfires.com.
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