Palmer Headlines Owls Baseball All-Conference Selections

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State baseball had three players named to the 2026 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference's all-conference teams led by senior outfielder Sam Palmer (Medfield, Mass.) who received first team honors while Chase Racine (Pittsfield, Mass.) and Andre Phaneuf (Westfield, Mass.) were announced to the second team.

Palmer secures all-conference first team honors for the fourth time in his collegiate career, capping the regular season with a .364 batting average with four home runs and 30 runs batted in. He is supporting a .446 on-base percentage with 20 stolen bases, the fourth-most in the conference. He has fanned just twice this season in 157 plate appearances while taking 16 walks. Palmer's consistency as a hitter throughout his four years is well documented as Thursday's playoff game will mark Palmer's 155^th career game as an Owl, the most games played by a single player in the history of the program. He is the all-time leader in runs scored with 155, and ranks second all-time with 190 hits, 128 RBI, 27 home runs, and 66 stolen bases.

Racine was named the league's all-conference second team first baseman after batting .319 with 36 hits, 13 extra base hits, and 30 runs batted in. He is responsible for one of the more memorable hits of the season to this point for Westfield, pulling a go-ahead three run home run at Framingham to take the lead in the eighth inning of an eventual conference victory. For his career, Racine sits at 99 career hits with six home runs and 78 RBI.

Phaneuf is one of six starting pitchers in the league to obtain all-conference accolades, snagging second team honors while assuming the ace role in the Owls pitching staff this season. In his sophomore season, Phaneuf is currently fourth in the conference with a 2.22 earned run average, tossing 48.2 innings pitched in ten appearances, racking up 47 strikeouts. He has put together several sparkling starts on the mound for the Owls, including a seven inning victory over current 14^th ranked Montclair State where he surrendered just one run. He also fired six innings of one-hit ball against Anna Maria, the Owls opponent in the MASCAC tournament.

Westfield State wrapped up the regular season with a 12-12 conference record, nabbing the fifth seed in the MASCAC postseason where the Owls will meet fourth-seeded Anna Maria College in an elimination game on Thursday at 12:00 P.M. from Bridgewater State University.