SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 2, 2024) – The Western New England baseball team picked up their first wins of the season on Saturday afternoon, taking down the Pride of Springfield College in a doubleheader by scores of 13-8 (7 innings) and 12-3 (6 innings).

Records:

• Western New England: 2-3
• Springfield College: 1-2

How It Happened (Game 1):

Springfield College would open the game with the first four runs in the bottom of the first inning, with the two teams playing a seven-inning doubleheader. Western New England's starting pitcher, Matt Lauria, would struggle from the start, allowing four earned runs on just one hit while walking five in the inning, throwing 30 pitches. Sean Hogan would come in relief early and grab a backwards strikeout to end the inning, with Springfield College taking an early 4-0 lead. The Pride's defense would shut the Golden Bears down early, allowing just one hit through the first three innings.

The early lead for Springfield would not deject the Golden Bears, who would come out in the top of the fourth and put up a crooked number on the hosts, grabbing ten runs on five hits. Cody Waterbury would open the inning with a walk, while Sean Jamieson would triple to right-center field to score Waterbury, getting WNE on the board. Andrew Florek would come around with an RBI single to left field, plating another run for the Golden Bears. The parade of runners reaching base for Western New England would continue when Aaron Cole reached on a fielder's choice, though there would be no outs made on the play after an error would come of it. Henry Schowerer would reach on a hit by pitch while Greg Nivison would walk with the bases loaded, scoring another run for WNE, with Springfield College leading 5-3. Trey Young would come through with a clutch bases-clearing double, giving Western New England their first lead of the game, 6-5. The inning would not be over from there, as WNE would once again fill the bases with runners after batting around the lineup. Kohtaro Shimada would reach on a hit by pitch while Cody Waterbury would single, moving Young and Shimada up a base re-loading the bases for the Golden Bears with one out. After the Pride were able to come through with a strikeout, Jack Loftus would smack a hanging breaking ball over the fences, collecting Western New England's first home run of the season, a grand slam, giving WNE a 10-5 lead after the fourth inning concluded.

WNE would add another run in the top of the fifth after sitting Springfield down one-two-three in the bottom of the fourth. The Golden Bears would take advantage of an error by Springfield's second baseman, scoring Schowerer, giving WNE an 11-5 lead. Springfield would get the run back in the bottom of the fifth when an RBI double would send a member of the Pride home. The Golden Bears would go down easily in the sixth, while the Pride would come away with two additional runs in the bottom of the sixth, jumping the score to 11-8 with an inning remaining.

Western New England would grab those two runs back in the top of the seventh when Kohtaro Shimada hit an RBI double while Cody Waterbury came around with an RBI triple, WNE's second three-bag of the afternoon, which gave the visitors a 13-8 lead. Troy Donohue would lock down the bottom of the seventh for the Golden Bears, allowing no hits on 12 pitches, earning Western New England a 13-8 victory over Springfield College.

Inside the Lines:

• WNE finished the afternoon with eight hits and took advantage of three costly Springfield College errors.
• Jack Loftus contributed two hits in five plate appearances, grabbing four RBIs in the win. Trey Young's bases-clearing double would send home three, finishing game one 1/3 at the dish.
• WNE would use five pitchers on the afternoon, with Matt Lauria, Sean Hogan, Demitri Boulas, Cam Heeman, and Troy Donohue all toeing the rubber on Saturday. Hogan would grab the win for the Golden Bears by tossing 3.1 innings, giving up just three hits and a run while striking out three.

How it Happened (Game 2):

Cody Waterbury would open the second game with a double to left field with two outs, though the Golden Bears would not be able to string together a rally. Springfield College would grab a sacrifice fly in their opening offensive inning off Western New England starting pitcher Jared Kuryan, which gave the home team a 1-0 lead. The Golden Bears would go quietly in the top of the second, with Springfield College adding another run in the bottom of the inning and grabbing an RBI single up the middle, giving the Pride a 2-0 lead after two innings of play.

As they did in the opening game of the night, Western New England would come alive, this time in the third inning of the seven-inning game, getting a one-out, two-RBI double from Cody Waterbury, which evened the score at two. Sean Jamieson would advance Waterbury with a flyout, while Jack Loftus would come through with an RBI single to left field, giving Western New England a 3-2 lead. WNE would then load the bases in the inning, though Springfield would get out of the frame unscathed, with WNE putting up three runs on two hits. Kuryan would get the Pride to strike out, bounce out, and fly out in the bottom of the third, preserving the one-run Western New England lead. The senior would go on to strike out the side in the bottom of the fourth, continuing to keep Springfield off the scoreboard.

Jack Loftus would open the top of the fifth off with a solo home run to right field, his second home run of the season and second home run in the doubleheader, giving the Golden Bears a 4-2 lead. The inning would continue with more runs and home runs for the Golden Bears. Andrew Florek would single up the middle while Aaron Cole would walk. The Golden Bears would be thrown out on a pick-off, though with just one out in the inning, Ryan Montini would hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, giving the Golden Bears a 6-2 lead. The Golden Bears would add two runs in the inning on bases loaded walks, giving the road team an 8-2 lead. Western New England would add four more in the sixth, coming away with three RBI walks and scoring another run on a wild pitch, grabbing four runs on no hits in the inning to take a 12-3 lead. The Golden Bears would shut down the Pride in the sixth when Andrew Melone recorded the final three outs on two strikeouts and a fielder's choice, as the teams decided to call the game after six innings, giving Western New England the 12-3 win.

Inside the Lines:

• WNE's 3-5 hitters in the order collected eight of the 11 RBIs in the win, with Jack Loftus having quite the afternoon, going 2/3 at the dish, grabbing four RBIs.
• Jared Kuryan slowed the bats of Springfield, tossing five innings, giving up two hits and three runs, two earned, while walking five and striking out four.
• Springfield College pitchers would throw 19 walks in the six-inning game. All but one Golden Bear had at least one walk in the win.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England will head to Clark University next Tuesday, March 12, after grabbing a ten-day break. The game will be played at 3:00 p.m..