Baseball Drops Non-Conference Tilt with Wesleyan

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Wesleyan senior Cole Torino (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) tallied three hits and two RBI to lead the Cardinals to a 9-2 non-conference victory over Westfield State on Wednesday afternoon from Middletown, Conn.

The Owls have now lost five of their last six games after winning 14 of their opening 17 games, falling to 15-8 overall. The Cardinals improve to an overall mark of 16-4.

A sacrifice fly from Alex Martin (Shrewsbury, Mass.) opened the scoring in the second inning to give the Owls a 1-0 lead before Wesleyan ripped off a four-run third frame with Torino belting the go-ahead two-run single to take a 3-1 lead. Connor Sullivan (Stamford, Conn.) tacked on a RBI single to make it a 4-1 Cardinals advantage through three innings.

An error from Wesleyan plated the Owls second run of the contest, but another sizeable scoring inning from the Cardinals in the form of five runs on four hits and two Owls miscues pushed the lead to the eventual final of 9-2 in the seventh.

Sean McNamara (Lowell, Mass.) was charged with the loss, pitching five innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Ian Appleby (Cohasset, Mass.) secured his second win of the season after tossing three scoreless innings in middle relief.

The Owls had two extra-base hits on the game with Chase Racine (Pittsfield, Mass.) picking up a two-out double in the eighth while Robison Guerrero Baez (Dominican Republic) clubbed a triple in the second inning, scoring the team's first run.

Sam Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) added a single to begin the game to push his program-long hitting streak to 21 straight games.

Westfield State will look to get back in the win column on Friday as the Owls travel to Salem State for a MASCAC game with first pitch at 3:30 P.M.