WINTER HAVEN, FLA. – The College at Brockport baseball team dropped a non-conference matchup to Westfield State University late Tuesday afternoon by a score of 15-8. With the loss, Brockport falls to 6-5 on the season with four games remaining on their spring break trip.
Westfield State did most of their damage in the first inning, plating nine runners to take a commanding lead. Brockport responded in the top of the second, scoring four to put themselves back within striking distance trailing 9-4.
Austin Hall got the scoring started for Brockport with a solo homerun over the right field fence, the juniors first as a Golden Eagle. With two outs in the inning,
Tom Kretzler reached on an error for the shortstop, which started a rally that eventually resulted in three more runs.
Charlie Serino knocked up a single up the middle, and then advanced to second on a passed ball to put two in scoring position for Dana Cala. The senior hit a dribbler down the third base line, and advanced all the way to third when the Owls third basemen overthrew his target, allowing Kretzler and Serino to score. The speedy centerfielder completed his trip around the bases on the next pitch, scoring on a passed ball.
The scoring settled down after the top of the second until the bottom of the fifth when Westfield's Alex Lafayette knocked a two-run shot over the left-centerfield wall, extending the lead to 11-4.
Paul Ludden got on base in all four of his plate appearances, one of which was a single in the seventh inning that drove in Cala for Brockport's fifth run. They added one in the eighth, and two more in the top of the ninth, but it was to no avail as Westfield was able to tack on a few of their own to take the game 15-8.
The Green and Gold combined for 14 hits on the day, led by Cala,
Avery Brooks, Ludden, Kretzler, and Serino who all had multi-hit games.
Nik Malachowski and
Anthony Eaton both got pinch hit at-bats in the top of the ninth, and drove in runs. Eaton's double was his second in as many games, both of which came during pinch hit opportunities.
Ryan Greco pitched well for Brockport in this game, pitching three and a third without giving up an earned run.
Seve Kowalski also pitched well in his inning of work, giving up just one run while striking out a pair.
The Green and Gold will be back on the field tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. when they square off with Ripon College at Chain of Lakes Stadium.
Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Golden Eagle scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking the "Brockport Golden Eagles" Facebook page.
