College Baseball - at Worcester, Mass.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

WESTFIELD SPLITS WITH WORCESTER STATE

WORCESTER – Westfield State rallied to earn a doubleheader split with Worcester State in conference baseball action on Saturday evening, April 16.

Westfield overcame a 4-2 deficit to win the nightcap, 8-5, in 10 innings. Worcester State rallied from a 5-1 deficit to win the opener, 7-5.

Solo homers by Troy Ferguson and Chris Hebert and a three-run homer by Brett Ford in the fifth inning vaulted the Owls to their 5-1 lead. But Worcester also used the long ball to get back into the game. Jeff LeHair slugged a three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth for a 5-4 Westfield lead.

In the sixth inning, Worcester tied the score on a two-out bunt single by Zac Attaway. Bear Dunn then delivered a game-winning two-run homer.

Westfield out-hit Worcester, 10-7. Ferguson and Ford both had a homer and single.

Losing pitcher Joe DelSoldato walked three, struck out three and hit three batters in going the distance.

In the nightcap, Westfield received a strong pitching performance from J.P. Murphy and four homers for the key extra-inning victory.

Trailing 4-2 in the top of the seventh, Westfield sent the game into extra innings on a solo homer by Herbert and a Matt Gurley sacrifice fly. Herbert also slugged a solo homer in his previous at bat in the fifth.

Ford led off the 10^th inning with a solo homer, then Shaun Geary delivered a huge three-run circuit shot to give the Owls a commanding 8-4 lead.

Murphy went the distance for the pitching victory. The junior right-hander from Pittsfield allowed three first-inning runs, but only two runs over the next nine innings. He gave up 10 hits and four walks and struck out three.

Every player hit safely in Westfield’s 12-hit attack, with the bottom three in the batting order (CJ Ahearn, Hebert, Geary) collecting two hits apiece.